Mafia war and murders in the Messina area, ROS blitz with 7 arrests

MESSINA – The Carabinieri del Ros, with the support of the provincial Carabinieri command of Messina and the 12th Carabinieri helicopter unit of Catania, have carried out a precautionary custody order, signed by the investigating judge, against seven people investigated for various murders aggravated by the method mafia, made to facilitate the activities of the mafia association of the "Barcelonesi" clan which managed criminal affairs in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and on the Tyrrhenian coast of the Province of Messina.

The provision arises from the investigations launched in January 2023 by the Carabinieri of the Special Operational Group delegated by the DDA into 10 murders, white wolf hunts, intimidation and attempted murders. According to the investigations, the suspects, some of whom have already been convicted with a final sentence for being leaders and promoters of the "Barcelonesi" mafia clan, took part, as instigators or material executors, in murders as part of the mafia war of the years Ninety in the province of Messina.

The investigations made use of the recent declarations of the justice collaborator Salvatore Micale, belonging to the Barcelona clan, and - say the carabinieri - made it possible to ascertain that the suspects "would have overall participated, with different roles, in the 10 ambushes all carried out with the classic mafia methodologies using firearms and taking the victims by surprise, killing 13 people aged between 21 and 55.

During the investigations into the Barcellonesi clan, in the Tyrrhenian area of ??Messina, it also emerged that several murders had been decreed by the leaders of the gang to "punish some boys who had committed thefts or dealt drugs without having received prior authorization from the association , behaviors – say the carabinieri – which undermined the authority of the leaders of the association”.

The crimes

The investigation by the Messina DDA concerns the murders of Angelo Ferro in 1993 in Milazzo, the double murder of Antonino Accept and Giuseppe Pirri, found dead in the Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto cemetery in 1992 and killed the previous day, the killing of Carmelo Engineers, which occurred in 1992 in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, by Francesco Longo, killed in 1992 in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, by Aurelio Anastasi, killed in 1993 in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Giuseppe Italiano's white lupara, the man would have been kidnapped and killed in February 1993 in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, and Giuseppe Porcino, kidnapped and killed in March 1993 also in Barcellona PdG. The police and firefighters are looking for the victim's remains. The investigations still concern the shooting deaths in 1993 in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto of Sergio Raimondi, Giuseppe Martino and Giuseppe Geraci, the latter died in 1994 from his injuries. One of the perpetrators was sentenced to life imprisonment for these crimes. And again the investigation has lifted the veil on the murder of Giuseppe Abbate, which occurred in 1998 in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, and the killing of Fortunato Ficarra, in 1998 in Santa Lucia del Mela. Five people were convicted for this crime, with a sentence that will become final in 2022.

The names of the suspects

The people reached this morning by a precautionary custody order in prison as part of the Messina DDA investigation into the murders of the 1990s in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto are men of the highest rank in the mafia hierarchies who governed the Barcellona Cosa Nostra . These are Giuseppe Gullotti, for a long time considered at the top of the group, and Salvatore "Sam" Di Salvo, later designated as his successor. Then Nicola Cannone and Stefano “Stefanino” Genovese. The detention order was served on the four in prison. The other three suspects arrested and taken to prison are: the "cashier" of the Barcelona mafia group of the 80s and 90s Giuseppe Isgrò, recently released after having finished serving his sentence for the "Gotha 4" operation , Carmelo Mastroeni, originally from Merì, touched at the time by the "Omega-Obelisco" investigation and considered by the DDA to have always been close to Salvatore "Sam" Di Salvo, and Vincenzo Miano.