Mafia, seven arrests in the Agrigento area, hypothesized serious infiltrations in public procurement

The suspects are accused of the crimes of mafia-style criminal association, extortion, usury, corruption and illicit competition aggravated by the aim of facilitating Cosa Nostra

The financiers of the Economic-Financial Police Unit of Palermo and of the Sciacca Company have executed two orders applying precautionary measures issued by the investigating judge of the local Court at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office - District Anti-Mafia Directorate, against seven subjects, of of which five were placed in prison and two were placed under house arrest. The suspects are accused, in various capacities, of the crimes of mafia-style criminal association, extortion, usury, corruption and illicit competition aggravated by the aim of facilitating Cosa Nostra, political-mafia electoral exchange and illicit waste trafficking. To carry out the measures, over 100 soldiers from the Guardia di Finanza were employed, from the Palermo and Agrigento departments, who are also carrying out searches in various Sicilian provinces and in Molise, at the homes and corporate offices of 22 suspects.


The investigations, conducted by specialists from the Economic-Financial Police Unit of Palermo (Gico), with the help of colleagues from the Sciacca Company, would have made it possible to reconstruct the existence of criminal dynamics linked to the exercise of widespread economic control of the territory by the Sciacca mafia family, within which a heated competition emerged aimed at obtaining leadership and which ended only at the end of 2021, after the death of the elderly head of the family Salvatore Di Gangi. The latter would have been replaced by a historic "organic" man of honor within the Cosa Nostra branch of Saccense, already convicted of mafia association, who - as recognized by the investigating judge - would have established himself thanks to his marked ability to "stand as a collector in the procurement sector". In fact, as highlighted in the context of the precautionary measures, "the overall data that emerges is precisely the persistent capacity for infiltration and conditioning of the socio-economic fabric of the territory by the mafia association which has found expression, on the one hand with the almost total control in the procurement sector and the constant attempts to enter with sub-contracts and supplies, on the other with the conditioning of the vote during the electoral consultations". In fact, during the investigations, a penetrating power of infiltration of the criminal association into the legal economy emerged, with particular reference to the "construction" and "earthmoving" sectors connected to the construction of public works falling within the territory of influence of the articulation of Cosa Nostra, also implemented by resorting to extortion, illicit competition with threats or violence and usury to the detriment of entrepreneurs outside the fiduciary circle of the new regent of the mafia family.

Specifically, between 2020 and 2023, the conditioning of various public contracts would have been found, with particular reference to the construction of the purifier, as well as the renovation of the sewerage network, the port area of ??Sciacca and the municipal kindergarten of Menfi, which took place also thanks to the decisive contribution of mafia entrepreneurs who, effectively replacing the successful companies, systematically evaded the anti-mafia legislation regarding sub-contracting by imposing the supply of raw materials and the cold rental of vehicles. Among the recipients of the precautionary custody orders there is also a public official, in whose charge the crimes of corruption and forgery have been hypothesized, since in 2021, in exchange for the free execution of some works at his home, would have facilitated the company attributable to one of the mafia entrepreneurs for the awarding of the contract relating to the construction of the Sciacca vaccination hub, falsely certifying the possession of a certification essential for obtaining the order.


The elements acquired during the investigations would also have allowed us to ascertain the intervention of the aforementioned public official to favor the direct award to the aforementioned company of the works relating to the "clearing and restoration of the road surface in the Municipality of Lucca Sicula (AG)" , to the "restoration of the connecting road pavement in some districts of the municipality of Caltabellotta" and to the "fencing of the area seized by the AG in the Scala dei Turchi area in the municipality of Realmonte". Finally, the investigative activities would have revealed the attempt to influence the 2022 municipal elections of Sciacca. In this context, the new regent of the mafia family would have met a candidate for the City Council to guarantee him political support, an episode for which the investigating judge considered recurring elements capable of configuring the crime of "mafia political electoral trading"