Mafia: operation in the province of Caltanissetta, 9 arrests
DDA investigation into the Campofranco clan

Nine people were arrested by the Carabinieri as part of an operation coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Caltanissetta Prosecutor's Office because they were believed to belong to a mafia clan based in Campofranco.

Seven people were taken to prison and two were placed under house arrest, while another person is untraceable and currently wanted. They are under investigation for mafia-type association, extortion aggravated by the mafia method and the availability of weapons, possession and dealing of narcotic substances in competition.

The investigation was launched in October 2022 after the release of Angelo Schillaci, who had served a sentence for the mafia. The suspects, mostly presumed to belong to the Campofranco family, would have worked to reorganize the clan by procuring weapons and setting up a 'common fund' with the illicit proceeds of extortion and drug dealing.

In particular, four attempts at extortion with acts of intimidation against some companies involved in the renovation of public works in the municipalities of Campofranco and Milena and against a commercial operator in Campofranco were ascertained, as well as three extortions against entrepreneurs and traders. The clan also had relationships with subjects from Milena and the province of Agrigento. The Campofranco mafia family, also known as the Vaccaro clan because it is led by the brothers Domenico and Lorenzo Vaccaro, has always been at the center of the mafia balance in the province of Caltanissetta.

Domenico Vaccaro, the last provincial representative of Cosa Nostra Nissena, had assumed an important role in the balance of the Sicilian mafia in the years immediately following the capture of the historic leader Salvatore Riina, because he was identified as a substitute for the head of the provincial commission 'Piddu' Madonia.