Anti-mafia operation Gigante, 6 arrests for drugs and extortion: among them also Lo Piccolo, referent of the mafia clans in Palermo
by Editorial Staff

November 26, 2024

Since the first light of dawn in Genoa, a vast anti-mafia operation has been underway, conducted by the local Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate, supported by the DIA Operations Centers of Palermo, Milan and Turin.

The DIA is executing precautionary measures in prison, issued by the investigating judge of the capital, at the request of the District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office, against 6 suspects, accused to varying degrees, of fraudulent transfer of assets, aggravated by the aim of facilitating the activity of mafia associations, criminal association aimed at international drug trafficking, illicit possession of weapons and extortion.

The Genoese entrepreneur who worked in port logistics, Gabriele Silvano, ended up in prison. Also arrested with him was Salvatore Mario Lo Piccolo, considered a contact for the mafia clans in Palermo and formally an employee of Silvano.

Precautionary measure also for Enrico Bomarzo, employee of a Genoese shipping company. The others to end up in handcuffs are three South American citizens: John Harold Ordonez Garcia, Boris Jiampier Maruri Moreira and Victor Manuel Maruri Moreira. The investigation is coordinated by the Anti-Mafia Public Prosecutor Monica Abatecola.

Also underway is the preventive seizure of a plot of land in Palermo, personal and house searches of additional suspects. The operation, called Gigante, stems from the anti-mafia investigations carried out by the DIA of Genoa against some logistics companies, from which the risk of mafia infiltration through some members of the Tommaso Natale district of Palermo emerged, which is why the companies were hit by interdictions.

The investigations led to the discovery of 4 pistols and over 500 bullets, hidden in a container/shelter, used by the logistics company and available to the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur is accused of having formed an organized group dedicated to the international trafficking of cocaine from South America.

Finally, the entrepreneur was also charged with extortion because, thanks to the availability of weapons, he threatened to kill a person, forcing him not to sell a property on the hills of Genoa, available to the latter, and instead to sign a loan for use contract in his favor in order to use it as a B&B from which the suspect would have drawn exclusive profits. The six arrested were taken to the Genoa Marassi prison at the disposal of the judicial authorities.