Too bad he doesn't have english subtitles for his interviews anymore, he had them for his earliest interviews. The one with Maurizio Prestieri is very good.

I totally agree, with AI it would be very easy to have proper subtitles in many languages.

anti-mafia operation "Lua Mater" in the province of Enna, police arrested 13 members of the Cosa Nostra families based in the towns of Pietraperzia and Regalbuto on charges of mafia-type association, weapons trafficking and other crimes. Several weapons were seized between the province of Enna and Caltanissetta.

Mafia at the foot of Etna: 18 on trial with alleged boss Mancari

The money of the Tomasello-Mazzaglia-Toscano group and the drugs that came from Adrano

BIANCAVILLA (CATANIA) – According to the Carabinieri and the DDA of Catania, the clan would be headed by Giuseppe Mancari . And for years he would have imposed a blanket extortion on bartenders, tire dealers, and restaurateurs: they took money from everyone in the name of the Tomasello-Mazzaglia-Toscano group, referents in the city of the Santapaola-Ercolano clan.

Nineteen have now been sent for trial . Thirteen will take the abbreviated trial, which will open on September 24, while six others will take the ordinary trial, which will open in October. The alternative trial was chosen among others by the same alleged boss Mancari, now 74 years old . Among the charges, to varying degrees, there is also drug trafficking.

The defendants

The other defendants are thirteen who were arrested in Operation Ultimo Atto : Salvatore Manuel Amato, Fabrizio Distefano, Placido Galvagno, Giovanni Gioco, Piero Licciardello, Nunzio Margaglio, Carmelo Militello, Nicola Gabriele Minissale, Alfio Muscia, Ferdinando Palermo, Mario Venia and Carmelo Vercoco. The others were investigated at large.

The accusations are based on the investigations of the Carabinieri, but also on the revelations of one of the last repentants of the Catania mafia, Vincenzo Pellegriti . According to his statements, Cosa Nostra, in Biancavilla, would set in motion its tax collectors in particular at Christmas, Easter and for San Placido, the patron saint of the city since 1709. In short, the third "instalment" of the pizzo, here, is not requested on August 15th (according to a consolidated calendar of other areas), but in October.

The feast of San Placido

And it is precisely during the days of the feast of San Placido, according to Pellegriti, that the targets are carousel operators and sellers of roasted horse meat. “Basically,” he said, “ those who wanted to set up a stall were forced to buy horse meat through the mafia clan.”

A man from the clan would always act as a spokesman . And he would impose on the stall holders "the purchase of meat that he in turn would buy from an authorized butcher". The price obviously, from the producer to the final seller, rose considerably.

The threats

“ If someone refused and wanted to buy the meat directly from the butcher, they were threatened ,” continued the collaborator of justice, in summary, “and then we damaged their stall, even setting it on fire. As for the rides, first of all I want to say that the owners are forced to give about 100 blocks of about 20 free tickets to “the children of prisoners .” In reality, in recent years, the people from the mafia clan who took these blocks, we then gave them away as we pleased.”

And, again, the “ owners of each individual game pay around 400 or 500 euros to the mafia clan ”. “These extortions – he clarified – naturally went on for years and as regards the period following my release from prison”.

According to investigators, the drugs came from Adrano, other times from the Laudani clan or from the “Fossa dei Leoni”, one of the Cappello clan's most important drug dealing areas.

https://livesicilia.it/mafia-falde-etna-18-alla-sbarra-con-presunto-boss-mancari/

Anti-mafia blitz in Alcamo: 10 arrests, including former senator Papania

PALERMO – Former Democratic Party senator Antonino Papania, 65, founder of the political movement “Via”, ended up in prison on a serious charge. For him, the charge is political-mafia electoral exchange.

The former deputy mayor of Alcamo, Pasquale Perricone, 69 years old, was also arrested: he was allegedly the intermediary between Papania and the Alcamo mafia clan.

They are two of the ten arrested by the Trapani police. The investigation is by the Palermo District Anti-Mafia Directorate. The other suspects are: Savio Gregorio Ascari, 55 years old; Giorgio Benenati, 56 years old; Francesco Coppola, 64 years old; Giosuè DI Gregorio, 54 years old; Salvatore Li Bassi, 66 years old; Antonino Minio, 53 years old; Giuseppe Pipitone, 61 years old and Giuseppe Sciacchitano, 49 years old.

The politician allegedly paid two thousand euros for the clan to support his candidate, Angelo Rocca, for the Sicilian Regional Assembly. It was the 2022 elections. The race for the ARS was not a winner.

The custody order is signed by the president of the Gip office Alfredo Montalto. The mafia family is said to be led by Francesco Coppola.

The investigation revealed who allegedly leads the Calatafimi mafia family and a series of extortions, some carried out and others only attempted.

Among the victims were an entrepreneur from Castellammare del Golfo with interests in the food distribution and real estate sectors , building contractors and car dealers from Alcamo who were allegedly asked for sums of up to 50 thousand euros.

The owner of a riding school , also in Alcamo, was apparently forced to abandon the business following disagreements with a person “protected' by the mafia.

The threat of retaliation allegedly forced a bouncer from Trapani to abandon his job at a commercial establishment in the capital in favor of the son of a well-known criminal.

The investigation finally revealed drug deals in agreement with Albanian wholesalers and the availability of weapons.

https://livesicilia.it/blitz-antimafia-ad-alcamo-10-arresti-ce-anche-lex-senatore-papania/

Notorious Sicilian mafia figure Giovanni Brusca has described himself as a 'monster' in a new book to be released on Thursday.

Brusca, 67, once known as 'the pig', was arrested in 1996. He was handed a reduced sentence of 30 years and was released five years early in 2021 for good behaviour. He was provided housing in a secret location and a payout of a €1000 each month.

His victims include anti-mafia prosecutor ­Giovanni Falcone, who he killed after detonating half a tonne of explosives under a road in Capaci, near Palermo as his car passed by.

He also ordered the death by strangling of 12-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a mafia turncoat.

Sicilian mafia boss Giovanni Brusca, who committed over 150 murders, has admitted to being a 'monster'

The boy was kidnapped and, after being held for two years, was killed and his body dissolved in acid.

Brusca was interviewed while he was still imprisoned in Rome by anti-mafia volunteer and parish priest Don Marcello Cozzi for the new book, titled Someone Like That, the Times reported.

Referring to Di Matteo's murder, Brusca said that he knew that there 'was no forgiveness' for such a crime, while admitting that he is 'often accused of not outwardly showing repentance'.

In the book, he also reflects on his childhood home being raided and how he viewed the Cosa Nostra's most fearsome boss, Totò Riina, as 'God on earth'.

Brusca being escorted to prison by anti-mafia police in Palermo. The mafia fugitive was sentenced to 30 years in jail, but was released five years early for good behaviour in 2021

Brusca also admits that he owes his early release to his victim Falcone, who helped to secure shorter sentences for mafia fugitives.

Author Mr Cozzi said that while he expected to see 'the monster of Capaci' in Brusca, he was struck by the mobster's 'everyday normality', insisting he is 'tormented by his past'.

Writing what he calls a 'psychological portrait', Mr Cozzi said he wanted to 'look the mafia in the face', an organisation he says you cannot see 'from the outside'.

His work has garnered a mixed response from the press, with La Repubblica writing that the families of Brusca's victims had 'a right not to forgive'.

The Gdf seizes one hundred kilos of drugs and half a million euros. Nine arrested

The operation is by the Catania Guardia di Finanza and also involves Udine. Two criminal associations imported drugs from abroad and exported them to Malta

Since the early hours of this morning, Thursday 26 September, over 40 financial police officers from the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Catania have been executing, as part of the operation called "El loco", in the provinces of Catania, Oristano and Udine , two orders from the Judge for preliminary investigations at the local Court with which personal and real precautionary measures have been ordered against 9 people , held responsible, in various capacities and in conjunction with 12 other people, for the crimes of organised trafficking and dealing of narcotics with the aggravating circumstance of transnationality.

The investigations, carried out by specialized units of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Catania - GICO Anti-Drug Operations Group, would have allowed the structure of two distinct criminal gangs to be outlined , ascertaining their modus operandi characterized by tested and consolidated stratagems aimed at the importation into the national territory and exportation to the island of Malta of narcotic and psychotropic substances as well as their retail sale in local drug dealing areas.

In detail, a first association would have been operational in the Etna hinterland and in the province of Syracuse , but with transnational ramifications, dealing directly with the supply, also through importation from Spain, of narcotics such as cocaine, hashish and marijuana , carrying out the relative transports both towards Italy and Malta.

The second criminal group would have exploited the other association's ability to move significant quantities of drugs to take care of the management of the retail sale of the narcotic in the local drug dealing areas of the provinces of Catania and Syracuse. The point of contact between the two association structures would have been a subject belonging to both criminal groups .

During the investigations, several seizures of narcotic substances were carried out in several phases for a total quantity of approximately 18 kg of cocaine, 41 kg of hashish and 50 kg of marijuana which led to the arrest, in flagrante delicto, of 8 subjects. The preventive seizure of movable and immovable assets, financial resources and other utilities for 485,000 euros was also ordered, corresponding to the profit deriving from the trafficking of narcotic substances .

https://www.rainews.it/tgr/fvg/arti...3c9765c-e3fd-4e9f-89ea-a75d6947eb12.html

Paolo Alfano gets provisional freedom: the former killer of Corso dei Mille returns to Palermo
AMDuemila September 28, 2024
Paolo Alfano , the trusted driver of Totò Riina 's fire team , has been granted semi-liberty after twenty years of detention in Parma prison. He has always been one of Cosa Nostra's diehards: he was sentenced to 17 years in the maxi-trial, then received a life sentence for two murders committed in 1981 and remained a fugitive until 1996.
The news was reported by 'Repubblica'.
Alfano returned to Palermo in August for twelve days thanks to a permit. His presence thus joins that of Giuseppe Giuliano and Giovanni Asciutto , Gaetano Savoca and Cosimo Fabio Lo Nigro and Nino Sacco. All of them have been released after having paid their debt to justice.
The latter has a daughter who married one of Alfano's sons, Pietro.
However, the former driver of Riina's group has continued to reiterate that he is now a different person, who wants to break away from the past.

https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/ho...i-corso-dei-mille-rientra-a-palermo.html

Drugs and Mafia: 19 members of a Palermo clan sentenced
In the dock are the leaders and followers of the Porta Nuova, Tommaso Natale and Brancaccio clans who allegedly made agreements with the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta to supply the drug dealing areas of the Sicilian capital

By Editorial Staff |
September 30, 2024
The trial underway in a summary trial, before the preliminary investigations judge Clelia Maltese, for a major drug trafficking operation between Sicily, Calabria and Campania, ended with 19 convictions and 8 acquittals. In the dock are the leaders and followers of the Porta Nuova, Tommaso Natale and Brancaccio clans, who allegedly made agreements with the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta to supply the drug dealing areas of the Sicilian capital.

The highest sentence, 20 years in continuation with a previous conviction, was given to the boss Michele Micalizzi, son-in-law of the mafia boss Saro Riccobono. Fifteen years and 4 months were given to Giuseppe Marsalone, 15 and six months to Vincenzo Vaglica. The prosecution in court was represented by the prosecutors Bruno Brucoli and Federica La Chioma.

Cosa Nostra, a blow for the Porta Nuova bosses and the henchmen of the Palermo center family
Preliminary hearing judge Rosario Di Gioia sentenced Francesco and Massimo Mulè, father and son, to 16 years and 11 years and 4 months respectively for mafia association

by Editorial Staff

October 3, 2024

Preliminary hearing judge Rosario Di Gioia sentenced the Porta Nuova bosses in Palermo, Francesco and Massimo Mulè, father and son, to 16 years and 11 years and 4 months respectively for mafia association.

For Massimo Mulè, the aggravating circumstance of having held the role of boss has fallen. Theirs are among the heaviest sentences in the trial that saw alleged bosses and henchmen of the mafia family of central Palermo as defendants.

The proceedings were held in an abbreviated manner. In addition to the Mulès, the following were sentenced: Gaetano Badalamenti (19 years and 8 months), Francesco Lo Nardo (8 years), Giuseppe Mangiaracina (10 years), Alessandro Cutrona (20 years), Calogero Leandro Naso (10 years), Salvatore Gioeli (8 years), Antonio Lo Coco (6 years and 8 months); Alessandro Adamo (6 years and 8 months), Antonino Pisano (6 years and 8
months) and Simone Abate (6 years and 8 months); Salvatore Maddalena (4 years), Giovanni Maddalena (4 years); Giuseppe Civilletti (4 years and 8 months). They were all accused, to varying degrees, of mafia association, extortion, drug trafficking and dealing. The only person acquitted was Giuseppe Campisi.

We need a Gangland News-style site for Italy. Hell, for every country with prominent organized crime for that matter lol.

the farmer Salvatore Di Salvo, 69, with criminal records, was shot dead inside his car near the town of Monreale (Palermo); the police are investigating the crime and have not ruled out any leads

Mafia, weapons and beatings for drug monopoly: blow to the Porta Nuova mandamento
The internal structures and criminal activities of the mafia mandamento are outlined

A blow to the business of the Porta Nuova mafia mandamento in Palermo. Four precautionary prison measures carried out by the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit for mafia association, association for the purpose of drug trafficking, production, trafficking and possession of drugs, extortion, personal injury and illegal possession of firearms . The provision, issued by the investigating judge at the request of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate, is the result of the activity conducted between February 2022 and December 2023 which fully verified the statements of some collaborators of justice and follows the operation " Vento " of July 2022. The internal structures and criminal activities of the Porta Nuova mafia district have been outlined.

Those arrested are accused of having controlled the drug dealing areas , often resorting to acts of violence and intimidation, including the use of weapons, imposing the purchase of the drug (mainly cocaine) at a pre-established price (higher than the market price), as well as the payment of a sum on the proceeds of sales. Also documented was a beating of a man in the Zisa neighborhood, in broad daylight and with his face uncovered, and serious threats against some pushers, firing a gunshot against a wall for intimidation purposes, to impose the rules of the mafia group on drug trafficking . A constant presence of weapons emerged. During the searches, two other people were arrested, a woman and a man, found in possession of more than half a kilo of hashish and cocaine as well as a large amount of money.

https://www.monrealepress.it/2024/1...el-mandamento-di-porta-nuova/?refresh_ce

Son of mafia boss’s favorite in Giarre prison, deputy chief and vice mayor of Itala arrested

https://sicilylab.com/son-of-mafia-...-chief-and-vice-mayor-of-itala-arrested/

“Mondo contraddictoro” Blitz, Cosa Nostra group led by Musto: preliminary hearing set
From Rosario Cauchi-October 17, 2024 0

Gela. According to the prosecutors of the Caltanissetta DDA and the Carabinieri, it was the brothers Alberto Musto and Sergio Musto who controlled the new balances of Cosa Nostra, in Niscemi and in the area of ??the district that includes Gela. Both were arrested at the height of the “Mondo contraddictoro” investigation. The investigations, very complex, were closed in the summer. Now, the preliminary hearing has been set, scheduled in the bunker courtroom of the Caltanissetta court, for mid-November. The prosecutors of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate have filed the request for indictment for all those involved, twenty-nine in total. In addition to the Musto brothers, the defendants are Andrea Abaco, Francesco Amato, Giuseppe Auteri, Francesco Cantaro, Mariantonietta Caruso, Viviana Caruso, Francesco Cona, Davide Cusa, Renè Distefano, Alessandro Fausciana, Gaetano Fausciana, Salvatore Fausciana, Gianni Ferranti, Giovanni Ferranti, Giuseppe Manduca, Francesco Piazza, Antonino Pittalà, Salvatore Pittalà, Paolo Rizzo, Carlo Zanti and Francesco Torre. The Gelesi involved, who allegedly had access to weapons, are Emanuele Burgio, Carmelo Raniolo, Luigi Cannizzaro and Vincenzo Cannizzaro. According to investigators, the Mustos allegedly had the opportunity to have direct contact, for confidential information, with retired police officer Salvatore Giugno. Carabiniere Giuseppe Carbone will also appear before the preliminary hearing judge.

From 41 bis to freedom, the list of released mafiosi grows

PALERMO – Giuseppe Corona’s is only the latest release due to the expiration of the terms of pre-trial detention. The boss of Resuttana was preceded by other convicts who were released and who cannot be ignored in the new map of the mafia. And not just in Palermo.

There are people at large whose membership in Cosa Nostra is certain , others like Corona with heavy second degree sentences, and still others who the same mafia associates who were intercepted considered key figures for the entire organization.

The “pillar”

“There are three pillars here that cannot be touched,” said Giuseppe Incontrera, a boss whose rise was stopped with lead. One of the three was his father-in-law Giuseppe Di Giovanni, who has been free since July 2023, due to the expiration of the terms after the defense had not been notified of some documents.

“I entered for the first time in March last year,” said Di Giovanni, placing the beginning of his season at the top of Porta Nuova in 2019, having taken over from brothers Tommaso and Gregorio. He wanted the relative acquired through the marriage between his children to be at his side in managing the business and to make it clear to everyone who was “the owner of this machine”.

The Men of Messina Denaro

A few days ago, the Palermo Court of Appeal released from prison due to the expiration of the trial terms - the maximum time limit within which the trial should have concluded - nine Trapani bosses who were loyal to Matteo Messina Denaro : Nicola Accardo, Giuseppe Tilotta, Paolo Bongiorno, Calogero Guarino, Vincenzo La Cascia, Raffaele Urso, Andrea Valenti Filippo Dell'Acqua, Antonino Triolo.

Sentenced after a postponement of the sentence by the Supreme Court only to evaluate some aggravating circumstances, therefore mafiosi but released from prison. Some were detained under 41 bis, just like Corona who instead remained six years in prison, the maximum limit allowed while awaiting the final sentence.

The first-degree trial ended in June 2022. Last March he was convicted on appeal. The motivation has not yet been filed, then there will be the judgment in Cassation.

Long trials, changes of panels, annulments with postponement, procedural defects: justice follows tortuous tracks even in mafia trials. And releases from prison, with the code in hand, become "legitimate" and inevitable even in the face of crimes that create social alarm.

The Bosses of Brancaccio
In Brancaccio in 2021, some defendants were released despite their first-degree conviction. Among them Giovanni Lucchese, known as Johnny, Claudio D'Amore, Giuseppe Caserta who are waiting at liberty to know the outcome of the appeal trial.


Behind the expiration of the terms in their case was the cancellation of the appeal process after having accepted a ruling by the Supreme Court: the judge who sent the defendants to trial, in fact, was incompatible because as a investigating judge he had signed some interception decrees.

Convicted and released who join those who have become free after having paid the price of justice. Stories of the mafia , of old guard bosses and of new faces who have made their way like Corona who has always defined himself as a victim of justice.

https://livesicilia.it/palermo-41-bis-liberta-mafia-boss-scarcerati/

Sun, Oct 27, 2024 page12
Sweet justice: catching Sicily’s gelato gangsters
By Victor Le Boisselier, with Gael Branchereau in Rome / AFP, PALERMO, Italy

Two scoops of pistachio, one of corruption. For years holidaymakers have guzzled Sicilian gelato at famous parlors in Palermo, unaware that the booming businesses were controlled by organized crime.

The fraud was a textbook case for detectives trained to sniff out dirty money, but even with three mobster classics — a suspicious bankruptcy, a front man and a scheming “Godfather” — it took years for investigators to shut the operation down.

The Brioscia brand, made up of two ice cream parlors, was thriving at the end of the 2010s, attracting locals and foreign visitors alike with its glittering gold stars on travel Web sites.



People sit outside a restaurant in Palermo, Italy, on July 17.
Photo: Reuters

The shops were run by Mario Mancuso. Behind the scenes was Michele Micalizzi, who had served several stretches in jail for mafia association.

Mancuso took care of the ice cream, Micalizzi managed the rest.

That included taking a cut of the profits for protecting Mancuso from extortion attempts by other gangsters, a judicial source said.

However, the company was in the name of Mancuso’s wife and when divorce loomed, the men feared they would lose control.

They declared Brioscia bankrupt in 2021, blaming the 4 million euro (US$4.32 million) hole in the books on the COVID-19 lockdown, the source said.

“It was a flourishing business, very well known in Palermo. The bankruptcy was therefore unjustified,” he said.

Suspicious investigators used wiretaps to discover the two men — far from being bankrupt — had grand plans to open parlors abroad.

The pair launched a new company called Sharbat, renaming the shops, the source said.

“I’m not even sure the employees knew who they were working for,” a nearby shop worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Investigators say the men divided the windfall, with Micalizzi passing part of it to his jailed relatives to pay for legal fees or sundries.

However, on Aug. 12, the police pounced, arresting both men and four accomplices, and seizing 1.5 million euros.

Mancuso and Micalizzi are being prosecuted for criminal association of a mafia nature, extortion and fraudulent bankruptcy.

Between drug trafficking, racketeering, public procurement, legal companies or empty shells dedicated to money laundering, Italy’s central bank estimates the annual turnover of the country’s organized crime groups at 40 billion euros, or 2 percent of national wealth.

The mob still makes good money from traditional crimes such as drug trafficking.

For example, the ’Ndrangheta in the southern region of Calabria is responsible for much of Europe’s cocaine trade.

“It also makes direct investments in the legal economy,” said Rocco Sciarrone, who teaches criminal psychology at the University of Turin.

More than two-thirds of mafia infiltrations are in the construction, trade, real-estate and manufacturing sectors, a 2022 report by economist Antonio Parbonetti said.

The mob also has tentacles in agriculture, hotels and restaurants, logistics, transport and waste management.

How much the crime groups “invest” in each sector varies significantly from one region to another.

“The socioeconomic fabric [in Sicily] is made up of small family businesses that lend themselves very well to money laundering,” said Eliseo Davi of the University of Palermo.

One in two companies controlled by the mafia is a “star” company, which generates comfortable income and employs people, and therefore has a broad social, economic and political support, the Parbonetti report said.

In the Palermo gelato affair, the company did not have the necessary permits for one of the two shops, prompting calls for a probe into whether there was collusion with public officials.

Near the parlors lies the former home of Giovanni Falcone, an anti-mafia judge whose 1992 assassination by the mob triggered a crackdown by the state that permanently weakened Cosa Nostra.

Just like US law enforcement agent Eliot Ness, who brought down gangster Al Capone, Falcone had a simple rule: Follow the money.

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2024/10/27/2003825912

Franco Bonura , Michele Micalizzi , Gaetano Savoca , Giuseppe Fidanzati , and Vito Roberto Palazzolo, Giuseppe Corona, Giuseppe Di Giovanni, Giovanni Lucchese, Claudio D'Amore, Giovanni Formoso, Paolo Alfano and Pietro Tumminia. Very powerful men all released recently.

Many of the freed mafiosi, in fact, remain central figures for organized crime and for maintaining the balance of power within Cosa Nostra.

Sal Catalano arrested

EXTORTION OF A BUSINESSMAN IN PALERMO, FOUR ARRESTS

The Carabinieri of Palermo have arrested four men accused, to varying degrees, of extortion aggravated by mafia methods against an entrepreneur and possession of weapons.

Among those arrested is Salvatore “Sal” Catalano, 83, boss of the Pizza Connection , dating back to the 1980s when the mafia exported billions of dollars in heroin from Palermo to the United States using a network of Italian pizzerias and restaurants. Also in prison with him were Filippo Cimilluca, 48, from Ciminna, Vito Pampinella, 64, from Caccamo, and Antonio Baucina, 33, from Zen, a Palermo native who is charged with possession of weapons .

In 2021, Cimilluca allegedly imposed a sort of company on an entrepreneur. After offering him financial support, he allegedly asked for money in installments: 500 euros per month “for life”. The entrepreneur allegedly paid and in 2023 said he had already paid off the debt. The man had decided to sell and was asked for a severance payment of 30 thousand euros. After his outright refusal, a series of threats began .

Thanks to wiretaps, the raid was triggered when Cimalluca referred to the purchase of kilos of gunpowder to “ blow up the house .” Catalano served a 25-year sentence in the United States. In 2016, he returned to Ciminna, in the province of Palermo, after being expelled from the United States . Now he has ended up in prison again. No house arrest despite his advanced age.

https://ilsicilia.it/estorsione-a-un-imprenditore-nel-palermitano-quattro-gli-arresti/

So the guy leaned on the Mafia for financial support, and when he couldn't come up with their return on their investment, the mobsters were arrested for trying to collect. That's how the article should read. This is no different from how legitimate loansharks work, they may not threaten physical harm because they don't have to, they have other ways to force payment.

Someone on Reddit mentioned that Salvatore Catalano made tons of money from the Pizza Connection, and was wondering why he would be extorting restaurant owners unless he came home from prison broke. People who make comments like this don't understand how the Mafia works. Whether you do or don't have a lot of money, you don't simply stop participating in mob activities, even if you're in your 80s.

For the American authorities Toto Catalano is an "undesirable"; after finishing his sentence he was expelled, but he never broke off his ties to NYC.

On April 28, 2011, in Ciminna, there were really a lot of people at the funeral of a very particular elderly lady, the mother of Frank Calì, the new rising star of the American Cosa Nostra, believed to be the head of the Gambino family of New York. There was Sal Catalano, there was Calì's wife, an Inzerillo, niece of the historic Italian-American boss John Gambino, his brother Pietro - "tall Pete" they call him - is suspected of also being part of the Gambino clan. There were many Inzerillos that day in Ciminna, arriving from Palermo and New York, but many preferred to go only to Calì's mother's house and not to church. Probably, so as not to attract too much attention. But they did not go unnoticed, the Carabinieri of the Ros had once again transformed Ciminna into a set for how many cameras had been installed.

Rosario Gambino, involved in the Pizza Connection, was also arrested for extortion in 2019 in Palermo

Extortion is just standard Mafia practice. And it doesn't always happen the way people visualize. It's not necessarily some guys paying you a visit demanding to be your partner, right out of the blue. Oftentimes it starts with businessmen borrowing start-up money from them.

It's not about crime persé the big bosses in Southern Italy they are like politicians they help the people when the government fails.

Fake invoices for 1.3 billion euros: a major operation in Italy and abroad

Massive VAT evasion in the IT sector, 43 arrests and seizures for 520 million euros

A criminal association aimed at tax fraud and money laundering, aggravated by mafia methods , was dismantled in an operation involving the offices of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Milan and Palermo. A total of 47 personal precautionary measures were carried out, at the request of the Lombardy investigating judge, seizures of goods, valuables and money for 520 million euros and false invoices for 1.3 billion euros were reconstructed .

In particular, the restrictive measures - 34 in prison, 9 under house arrest and 4 interdiction measures - concern suspects held responsible, in various capacities, for criminal association aimed at evading intra-Community VAT in the trade of IT products and laundering the related profits. In relation to the management of some companies, for which bankruptcy proceedings are underway, the restrictive measures also concern bankruptcy crimes. Seven of the recipients of the prison measures are abroad : a European arrest warrant has been issued for them, four of which in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Spain and Bulgaria.

Instead, the preventive seizure , also for equivalent, of goods, securities and money for over 520 million euros was ordered against the people and companies investigated , identified as the overall profit of the fraud, equal to the evaded VAT, and the preventive seizure for money laundering of some residential and real estate complexes with a total value of over 10 million euros in Cefalù (Palermo), as well as other real estate attributable to some of the companies, falling within the territories of Chiavari (Genoa), Bellano (Lecco), Noli (Savona), Cinisello Balsamo (Milan) and Milan. The judge recognized for the leaders of the group the aggravating circumstance of having facilitated, by investing the profits in the VAT fraud sector, criminal gangs of the Camorra and the Mafia and of having made use of the Mafia method.

The investigation

The investigation was born from the convergence of two distinct investigative lines originating from the Economic and Financial Police Units of Varese and Milan with Eppo Milan on the subject of carousel fraud, and from the Flying Squad of Palermo and Sisco, with the investigative and operational coordination of the Central Operational Service, and from the Pef Unit of Palermo with the local office of Eppo, in which emerged, as stated in a note from the prosecutor's office, "the participation in the commission of carousel fraud of exponents of organized crime of the mafia and camorra type , managers of some of the supply chains of companies used in the circuits already under investigation in Milan and also in charge of reinvesting the illicit profits". The two proceedings were merged, thus allowing a single request to be made for the application of precautionary measures, then accepted by the investigating judge of Milan.

Over 160 searches in 30 different provinces at homes, offices and companies attributable to the suspects , also carried out with the help of the Guardia di Finanza's cash dog units, specialized in finding hidden banknotes. A total of 200 people are under investigation and over 400 companies are involved, many of which are accused of administrative offences deriving from these crimes, as provided for by Legislative Decree 231/2001. Concurrent activities for the enforcement of restrictive measures, searches and seizures are underway in the EU countries affected by the fraud and, in particular, in Spain, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and in non-EU countries, such as Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

https://www.adnkronos.com/cronaca/f...razione-moby-dick_4uRHH4GUIWUdPgQgy0N8Se

Don't understand how such a massive operation doesn't have English versions.

Police raid at dawn against Santangelo and Mazzei clans, 18 arrests

The people involved are accused of serious crimes, including homicide aggravated by mafia-related purposes, mafia-type association, and illegal carrying and possession of weapons with the aggravating circumstance of aiding the mafia association to which they belong.

The Catania police, on behalf of the District Attorney's Office - District Anti-Mafia Directorate, began an important operation against organized crime at dawn today, employing over a hundred officers from the Catania Police Headquarters' Flying Squad and the Adrano Police Station.

The operation, conducted under the coordination of the Central Anti-Crime Directorate of the Police, led to the execution of a precautionary measure order issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Catania against 18 people investigated on various counts. The individuals involved are accused of serious crimes, including homicide aggravated by mafia purposes, mafia-type association, and illegal possession and carrying of weapons with the aggravating circumstance of aiding the mafia association to which they belong. The investigation focuses mainly on two criminal organizations: the Santangelo clan of Adrano and the Mazzei clan, known as the "Carcagnusi" of Catania.

The investigations would have allowed to identify the material perpetrators of a murder dating back to 2016, as well as to identify the leaders of the Santangelo clan in Adrano and of a faction of the Mazzei clan operating in the same territory.

https://www.cataniatoday.it/cronaca...a-18-arresti-clan-santangelo-mazzei.html

Investigation ‘Moby Dick’: Mafia clans invest in €520 million VAT fraud

(Luxembourg, 14 November 2024) – In an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Milan and Palermo (Italy), code-named 'Moby Dick', detention orders are being executed against 43 suspects. The EPPO is probing a €520 million VAT fraud, with heavy involvement of several mafia groups.

During today’s action, led by the EPPO, 160 searches are being carried out in more than 10 countries, involving hundreds of police officers. Investigative measures are ongoing in several EU countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain, as well as in non-EU countries. A total of 195 individuals are being investigated, with more than 400 companies involved.

A freezing order of over €520 million is in execution to compensate the damage to the EU and the national budgets. In Italy alone, 129 bank accounts are being frozen, and 192 real estate properties seized, together with 44 luxury cars and boats.

According to the investigation, people linked to several mafia clans invested into a criminal syndicate, which set up a highly profitable tax evasion scheme.


European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi:


“’Moby Dick’ is a defining investigation for the EPPO. It has been a while since we started to ring the alarm bell about dangerous organised crime groups’ heavy involvement in fraud to the EU budget. Beyond the colossal damages that they create, we have been warning about the threat to our internal security their activity in this field represents. We now shed light on a first such big case.


‘Moby Dick’ shows that there are not two separate criminal worlds. The world of the really bad and dangerous criminals smuggling drugs, trafficking people on one side; and the world of white-collar criminals, ‘merely’ corrupting and laundering money, on the other side.”



The level of complexity and efficiency of this criminal syndicate committing VAT carousel fraud is unprecedented. Between 2020 and 2023, it issued invoices for the sales of airpods, laptops and other electronic goods of more than €1.3 billion.


Mafia methods also seem to have been used to settle conflicts that arose within the criminal syndicate between the members of the different criminal organisations.


VAT carousel fraud takes advantage of EU rules on cross-border transactions between its Member States, as these are exempt from value added tax (VAT). Based on the evidence, the suspects established companies in Italy and other EU Member States, as well as in non-EU countries, in order to trade the goods through a fraudulent chain of missing traders – who would vanish without fulfilling their tax obligations. Other companies in the fraudulent chain would subsequently claim VAT reimbursements from the national tax authorities.


The Judge for Preliminary Investigations at the Court of Milan ordered the pre-trial detention of 43 of the suspects: 34 will remain in prison and nine in house arrest. Seven European arrest warrants were issued at the request of the EPPO for suspects located in Bulgaria, Czechia, the Netherlands, Spain and non-EU countries. Another four suspects were subject to a temporary ban from the practice of commercial activities.


The investigation was conducted by the Italian Financial Police of Varese (Guardia di Finanza of Varese) and the Italian State Police (Squadra Mobile di Palermo and Servizio Centrale Operativo), under the supervision of the EPPO. The Italian Financial Police of Milano and Palermo also contributed to the investigation. The investigative measures were carried out also with the support of Europol and of several national law enforcement agencies.

All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It?is responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.

List of most important partners and national authorities involved:

Italian Guardia di Finanza
Italian Polizia di Stato
Europol
Spanish Policía Nacional
Czechia‘s Police (Policie ?eské republiky)
Luxembourg's Service de Police judiciaire (Section entraide judiciaire internationale)
Slovakia’s Police Corps (Policajný zbor)
The Fiscal Information and Investigation Service of the Netherlands (FIOD)
Bulgaria’s National Investigation Service (?????????? ?????????? ??????)
Croatia’s Police (Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova)

Thanks