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'Ndrangheta, extortion (even) at Christmas. A “flower” and a “thought” worth thousands of euros
The clan's associates demand payment and impose - even with threats - extortion on Calabrian traders and entrepreneurs
Published: 25/12/2024 – 13:03
COSENZA Someone asks for a “ thought ”, someone else for a “ flower ”. Terms used in criminal jargon to indicate an evidently illicit giving of money. In courtrooms, during trials, and in investigation papers under the heading of extortion, some cryptic words related to the payment of undue taxes find space. The extortion imposed on poor entrepreneurs, threatened, harassed, hit by the arrogance of the lord on duty. The bosses give the orders and the henchmen and soldiers carry them out. A custom that is revealed as such at all latitudes, there is no province in Calabria where the extortion racket is not exercised, resorting – if necessary – to strong measures. And Christmas, so the other holiday periods become a tempting opportunity to request a larger tranche from traders: up to 5,000 euros one-off at Easter, Ferragosto and precisely during the Christmas period when – in theory – takings should increase.
The flower at “Recovery”
One of the most recent investigations by the Catanzaro DDA to combat the mala bruzia is no exception. In the operation codenamed “ Recovery ”, the dialogues exchanged via text messages between two suspects are reported. Between 25 and 26 March 2021, there is talk of an event that occurred in the municipality of Casali del Manco , following the numerous acts of intimidation carried out, the two interlocutors focus on the “response to an extortion request, specifying that otherwise, they would have provided a new “ thought ”, that is, with further acts of intimidation against companies that had shown themselves reluctant to respond to such a request ”.
The “gift” to Cutro
A disturbing cross-section also emerges in another investigation by the Catanzaro District Anti-Mafia Directorate and which involved the Cutro area. Investigations that led to the arrest of five individuals, considered by the prosecution to be representatives of the local 'ndrangheta. It is December 13, 2023, a man approaches the alleged victim on board a dark-colored Volkswagen. The person who allegedly received the request for money tells the police everything. "After getting out - confesses the victim - he approached me and told me that regardless of my available liquidity, he needed the gift, especially in proximity to the Christmas holidays, so he firmly told me that he necessarily had to return this gift by Christmas Day no later than" . On the morning of January 11, 2024, the victim goes to the Police Headquarters, in Crotone, and provides all the details of the incident.
Tax imposed on schools too
Also emblematic is an episode that ended up in the “ Reset ” investigation. On December 19, the preliminary hearing judge Fabiana Giacchetti issued the sentence against the defendants who chose the abbreviated procedure (the convictions and acquittals). According to the prosecution, some defendants linked to one of the Cosenza clans forced two people “members of a private school” in Cosenza “to hand over to them the bills of exchange relating to the credit of 2,900 euros claimed by the injured parties” against another person “as a share of the overall extortion request consisting of: 4,000 euros per year, to be paid in two separate installments – with due dates at Christmas and Easter – and a further “gift” not better defined ”. In the long list of episodes noted by the investigators and contested to the defendants, there is no shortage of duties imposed on pizzerias and restaurants, some of which were forced to cut from the "takings" item about 500 euros, at Christmas, Easter and Ferragosto. (f.benincasa@corrierecal.it)
