Mafia, blitz in Agrigento where they shoot with Kalashnikovs: 29 arrests

PALERMO – There are new faces and old acquaintances in the anti-mafia blitz in Agrigento. A city where Kalashnikov shots are fired at shops.

And it is also to stem the escalation of violence that the Palermo District Anti-Mafia Directorate has ordered the arrest of twenty-nine people between the city of the temples and the province. The investigation is coordinated by the prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia, the deputy Sergio Demontis and the substitute Claudio Camilleri.

Among those arrested is also Fabrizio Messina, brother of the life-sentenced boss Gerlandino, who is said to lead the Porto Empedocle family. Strong disagreements have apparently arisen with the family of Villaseta, a hamlet of the city of temples, led by Pietro Capraro . Winds of war are blowing and so it was decided to intervene with an urgent arrest warrant.

The Carabinieri of the operational unit led by Colonel Vincenzo Bulla are carrying out arrests and searches also in Favara, Canicattì and Gela.

The charges contested are mafia association, drug trafficking and dealing, extortion, robbery and damage.

All the names

The recipients of the detention orders are: Domenico Blando, 67 years old, from Favara; Michele Bongiorno, 34 years old, from Favara; Pietro Capraro, 39 years old, from Agrigento; Ignazio Carapezza, 33 years old, from Agrigento; Carmelo Corbo, 46 ??years old, from Canicattì; Samuel Pio Donzì, 25 years old, from Agrigento; Carmelo Fallea, 49 years old, from Favara; Cosimo Ferro, 35 years old, from Castelvetrano; Francesco Firenze, 39 years old, from Castelvetrano; Giuseppe Focarino, 59 years old, from Palermo; Christian Gastoni, 31 years old, from Agrigento; Angelo Graci, 60 years old, from Castrofilippo; Rocco Grillo, 32 years old, from Gela; Alfonso Lauricella, 58 years old, from Agrigento; Gaetano Licata, 41 years old, from Villaseta; Fabrizio Messina Denaro, 57 years old, from Castelvetrano; Fabrizio Messina, 49 years old, from Porto Empedocle; Gabriele Minio, 36 years old, from Agrigento; Giorgio Orsolino, 34 years old, from Agrigento; Roberto Parla, 46 years old, from Canicattì; Vincenzo Parla, 53 years old, from Canicattì; Giuseppe Pasqualino, 33 years old, from Gela; Calogero Prinzivalli, 41 years old, from Agrigento; Mirko Salvatore Rapisarda, 42 years old, from Gela; Emanuele Ricottone, 58 years old, from Marianopoli (Caltanissetta); Giuseppe Sottile, 37 years old, from Agrigento; Alfonso Tarallo, 44 ??years old, born in Genk (Belgium); Angelo Tarallo, 44 ??years old, born in Liège (Belgium); Guido Vasile, 65 years old, from Agrigento and Nicolò Vasile, 43 years old, from Agrigento.

https://livesicilia.it/mafia-blitz-ad-agrigento-dove-si-spara-con-i-kalashnikov-29-arresti/

Anti-mafia maxi blitz in Agrigento, a war between clans avoided
Mafia Arrests in Agrigento

by Editorial Staff | 12/17/2024

A major anti-mafia operation has shaken the province of Agrigento and several Sicilian locations. The Carabinieri of the Agrigento Provincial Command, supported by several specialized units, have executed an arrest warrant issued by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA) of Palermo against 23 suspects. The operation, which also involved the Provincial Commands of Palermo, Trapani and Caltanissetta, as well as dog units and helicopters, involved the cities of Agrigento, Favara, Canicattì, Porto Empedocle, Santa Margherita Belice, Mazara del Vallo, Partanna, Campobello di Mazara, Castelvetrano and Gela. At the same time, personal and house searches were carried out on another 20 suspects .

The accusations and the investigations
The 23 arrested are accused, to varying degrees, of belonging to the Cosa Nostra mafia organization, drug trafficking and other crimes. The investigations, conducted by the Investigative Unit of the Carabinieri Operations Department of Agrigento and coordinated by the DDA of Palermo, began in December 2021 and focused on reconstructing the organizational chart and criminal activities of the mafia families of Porto Empedocle and Agrigento/Villaseta. Investigators believe that the heads of these families are respectively Fabrizio Messina, 49, and Pietro Capraro, 39, both with criminal records.

Cosa Nostra Agrigento: still active and dangerous
The operation shows how the Agrigento Cosa Nostra, despite the blows inflicted by previous police operations, is still active and dangerous. The organization, according to investigators, has significant economic resources and an arsenal of weapons. The investigation also highlighted a worrying instability in the local mafia balance, aggravated by the connections between the inmates and the outside. The members of the organization, even during detention, continued to give orders and directives, maintaining control of criminal activities in the territory.

Crimes committed and control of the territory
The investigations have collected evidence of numerous crimes committed using the intimidating power of the mafia organization. These include: extortion of companies operating in the waste, fuel and construction sectors; arson and damage to vehicles; robberies; and intimidation with firearms. The goal was to impose mafia control over the territory and obtain illicit profits. Investigators have documented cases of extortion in which victims were forced to hire personnel indicated by the organization or to pay sums of money.

Drug trafficking and international connections
In addition to extortion activities, the Porto Empedocle and Agrigento/Villaseta mafia families also ran a thriving drug trafficking business. Investigations revealed the existence of two distinct drug trafficking organizations that worked together to control the drug market in the province of Agrigento. These organizations had contacts with criminal groups in other Sicilian provinces, but also nationally and internationally, in countries such as Belgium, Germany and the United States. Over 100 kg of hashish, over 6 kg of cocaine and €120,000 in cash were seized during the investigation.

Risks of a mafia “war” and further arrests
Recent investigative activities have highlighted an alarming escalation of intimidating acts, including the use of firearms. This situation, according to investigators, was due to conflicts over control of the territory and the attempt by some groups to challenge the hegemony of the Agrigento/Villaseta mafia family. The risk of a real mafia “war” was real. During the searches carried out as part of the operation, additional quantities of drugs and cash were seized. A further individual was arrested in flagrante delicto for possession of approximately 200 grams of cocaine and 2,700 euros in cash. The 23 arrested were taken to various Sicilian prisons, at the disposal of the Judicial Authority.

The anti-mafia blitz between Marsala and Mazara del Vallo, those arrested remain silent in front of the investigating judge
During preliminary hearings before the investigating judge of Palermo Fabio Pilato, all those arrested in the anti-mafia operation that last Monday saw 17 arrests between Mazara del Vallo and Marsala availed themselves of the right to remain silent. Seven people ended up in prison and ten under house arrest.
The operation dismantled the mafia control of the rural areas of the southern side of Trapani. And as a key figure of the mafia district of Mazara (of which Marsala is part) emerges that of Pietro Burzotta.
Son-in-law of the late boss Vito Gondola, Burzotta is said to have inherited his father-in-law's criminal legacy, taking on a leading role in the management of grazing areas.

Fabio Santangelo, the Mafia Broker with the Scarface Myth, Arrested
The director of the latest drug trafficking between Sicily and Calabria is Fabio Santangelo, the most experienced broker on the Palermo scene, a “freelance” criminal at the service of the highest bidder in Cosa Nostra, investigators describe him as the only one capable of starting serious negotiations with Calabrian suppliers. In the living room of his house, in the Passo di Rigano district of Palermo, he kept a large poster of Scarface and a reproduction of the Last Supper. He also ended up in handcuffs in the blitz of the economic-financial police unit of Palermo: the investigation coordinated by the district anti-mafia directorate led to eight arrests and the seizure of one and a half million euros

Operation "Primus"
Mafia and racketeering, extortion against entrepreneurs and traders: 20 arrests
Editorial Staff
December 20, 2024 07:01

Twenty people linked to the Scalisi clan of Adrano were arrested, held responsible for mafia association, extortion against entrepreneurs and traders, drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons

Photo from video released by police
Catania police, on behalf of the District Attorney's Office - District Anti-Mafia Directorate, carried out a major operation that led to the arrest of 20 people. The officers of the Catania Police Headquarters' Flying Squad and the Adrano Police Station, coordinated by the Central Anti-Crime Directorate, executed a precautionary custody order issued by the investigating judge of the Catania Court.

The recipients of the precautionary measures are accused of crimes such as mafia-type association, extortion, drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms. All the crimes are aggravated by the aim of facilitating the activities of the mafia organization to which they belong, identified as the Scalisi clan of Adrano, a branch of the Laudani clan of Catania.

The long and complex investigations have allowed the reconstruction of the current organizational chart of the Scalisi clan, documenting the reorganization of the top roles and the criminal activities of the affiliates. Among the crimes contested, numerous extortions to the detriment of merchants and entrepreneurs in the area, forced to periodically pay the "pizzo" to the clan's tax collectors.

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Mafia and racketeering, extortion against entrepreneurs and traders: 20 arrests
https://www.cataniatoday.it/cronaca/mafia/operazione-clan-scalisi-arresti-mafia-adrano.html
© CataniaToday

https://livesicilia.it/mafia-blitz-organigramma-clan-arrestati-nomi-video/

Mafia, the blitz and the clan's organizational chart: the arrested NAMES VIDEO

CATANIA – The Adrano anti-mafia blitz. A massive deployment put in place by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate, Police – Flying Squad of the Catania Police Headquarters and the Adrano Police Station. Which led to the order of application of a precautionary measure issued by the Judge for preliminary investigations at the Court of Catania against 21 subjects destined for prison custody.

The charges are mafia-type association (Scalisi clan of Adrano) , extortion, drug trafficking and carrying and illegal possession of firearms. All crimes aggravated by the purpose of facilitating the mafia association to which they belong.

The names of those arrested
The following people ended up in handcuffs: Alfio Di Primo, Emanuel Bua, Pietro Castro, Vincenzo Castro, Emanuele Centamore, Francesco Pio Di Giovanni, Antonino Garofalo, Alfio Lo Curlo, Claudio Maccarrone, Pietro Maccarrone, Cristian Concetto Nicolosi, Salvatore Palermo, Vincenzo Restivo, Dario Sangricoli, Giuseppe Santangelo, Salvatore Scafidi, Alfio Scalisi, Andrea Stissi, Marcello Stissi, Massimiliano Vinciguerra.

Mafia, the blitz of Adrano
The investigations began in July 2021. An investigative activity that constitutes the natural continuation of previous investigations into the mafia association in question, which resulted in various operations. Illegal Duty of 11.7.2017 , in operation The King of 16.7.2020, in operation Fallow the money of 10.2.2021 .

In 2021, Operation Triade highlighted how, following his release from prison in 2022, the historical (and top-ranking) member of the Scalisi clan, Alfio Di Primo, would immediately place himself at the top of the mafia association. Becoming its regent. Di Primo is the brother-in-law of Giuseppe Scarvaglieri, already sentenced to life imprisonment, the undisputed head of the Scalisi clan, detained under 41 bis since January 2018.

The current organizational chart of the Scalisi clan has been reconstructed, whose internal hierarchy would see, at the level immediately below the regent Alfio Di Primo, the investigated Antonino Garofalo. Who would have carried out a fundamental function of organization and coordination on the other members of the mafia association. Among whom the affiliates Andrea Stissi and Dario Sangricoli would stand out.

The lace and the drugs
In addition to the organizational chart of the Scalisi gang, the investigation has allowed us to gain an understanding of the crimes committed by the clan's members, including numerous extortions. All committed in the typical mafia form of "pizzo", systematically to the detriment of Adranite traders and entrepreneurs. Forced to pay monthly sums of money to the mafia organization's tax collectors.

The coffers of the mafia association would have been constantly replenished by the proceeds of a large trafficking of narcotic substances such as cocaine and marijuana. Managed by members of the organization who, in this criminal context, took advantage of a phase of operational weakness of the other mafia organization in Adrano, hit by numerous arrests over the years,

The investigations have confirmed the well-known dangerousness of the members of the Scalisi clan . They would have equipped themselves with firearms in order to guard their territory and protect their criminal business from possible interference by rival mafia groups. In this way, they ensured the military support necessary to sustain the confrontation with other mafia groups.

The arrests took place at dawn.

https://livesicilia.it/mafia-blitz-marsala-mazara-arrestati-muti-davanti-al-gip/

Mafia: Marsala-Mazara blitz, those arrested remain silent before the investigating judge

PALERMO – During preliminary hearings before Palermo investigating judge Fabio Pilato, all those arrested in the anti-mafia operation that saw 17 arrests last Monday between Mazara del Vallo and Marsala availed themselves of the right to remain silent .

Seven people ended up in prison and ten under house arrest. The operation dismantled mafia control of the rural areas of the southern side of Trapani .

And as a key figure in the Mazara mafia district (which includes Marsala) Pietro Burzotta emerges. Son-in-law of the deceased boss Vito Gondola, Burzotta would have inherited his father-in-law's criminal legacy, taking on a leading role in the management of the grazing areas.

The investigation also includes an episode of auction rigging at a judicial sale. That of a piece of land, between Mazara and Petrosino, of the company “Orto Verde” of Giuseppe Alberto Argano, declared bankrupt by the Court of Marsala.

According to the DDA investigations, the attempted interference was orchestrated by mafia affiliates, including Domenico and Pietro Centonze and Michele Marino , who, using the intimidating power of Cosa Nostra, allegedly distanced the bidders from the procedure with threats, collusion and promises, in order to have it awarded to individuals close to the organisation.

https://livesicilia.it/palermo-mafia-san-lorenzo-giulio-caporrimo-condanne-mafia/

The Boss of San Lorenzo, the “Muds” and the “Miserables”: All Sentenced

PALERMO – Giulio Caporrimo’s conviction has been confirmed. The San Lorenzo boss said of himself “I am Cosa Nostra” while he reserved offensive words for his other affiliates.

“Mud” and “wretched” he called them in his monologues. He spoke to himself in his exile in Florence where he had moved after finishing a sentence. He was banned from living in Palermo.

Once back in the city he would have tried to take back the place he had left. Things had changed. Caporrimo was against the plan to reconvene the Palermo Cosa Nostra dome that met in Baida in May 2018. He did not recognize the figure of Francesco Palumeri , chosen by Calogero Lo Piccolo to command his district.

Blitz Bivio and Bivio2
Caporrimo's name opens the list of defendants in the appeal trial arising from the Carabinieri operations called "Bivio" and "Bivio2" which targeted the families of Tommaso Natale, San Lorenzo, Partanna Mondello and Zen.

The Court presided over by Raffaele Malizia sentenced him to 14 years, two less than the first degree, recognizing the continuation of a previous sentence. In total he will have to serve 30 years. The acquittal of his son Francesco was confirmed.

The accused and the sentences
These are the other sentences: Francesco Adelfio 11 years and 4 months (he had been sentenced to 14 years and 8 months), Giuseppe Cusimano 13 years (from 17 years and 4 months), Sebastiano Giordano 7 years and 4 months (from 9 years and 4 months), Vincenzo Taormina 5 years and 8 months (he had been sentenced to 12), Francesco L'Abbate 11 years and 8 months (one year less than the first degree), Vincenzo Billeci 6 years and 4 months (he had been sentenced to 10 years), Giuseppe Rizzuto 7 years (from 8 years and 8 months), Fabio Ventimiglia 4 years, one month and 10 days (from 6 years), Michele Zito 9 years and 4 months (from 10 years and 8 months), Andrea Mancuso 11 years, 2 months and 20 days (he had been sentenced to 13 years).

No discount, therefore sentences confirmed for Antonino Vitamia (18 years and 4 months), Francesco Palumeri (18 years), and Salvatore Fiorentino (8 years and 8 months).

The civil parties
The investigators had reconstructed about twenty extortions, but only six entrepreneurs joined the civil action with the assistance of lawyers Salvatore Caradonna and Serena Romano for the Addiopizzo committee . Also joining the civil action were the Municipality of Palermo (lawyer Ettore Barcellona), the Pio La Torre Center (lawyer Francesco Cutraro), Solidaria and Sos Impresa (lawyer Fausto Maria Amato), Confcommercio (lawyer Fabio Lanfranca), Confesercenti (lawyer Maria Luisa Martorana), Fai and Sportello di solidarietà (lawyers Salvatore Forello and Valerio D'Antoni).

https://livesicilia.it/mafia-pizzo-recrudescenza-clan-ammazziamo-cognato/

Mafia, extortion and resurgence of the clan: "We'll kill his brother-in-law"

CATANIA – The crime of association is the central focus of the investigation.

Operation “Primus” led to the arrest of 21 people for mafia in the night between Thursday and Friday. All believed to be close to or affiliated with the Scalisi clan of Adrano. Investigations started in July 2021, coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Ignazio Fonzo and the substitutes Assunta Musella and Fabio Saponara , saw the mobile squad of the Catania Police Headquarters and the Adrano police station in the field.

Mafia, the Scalisi clan on the territory
The existence of a mafia-type criminal association operating in the territory of Adrano which takes its name from its promoter Antonio Scalisi has already been confirmed with sentence no. 10/92 issued by the Court of Assizes of Catania.

A clan that was then the subject of the sentence issued twenty-five years ago - the Fico d'India trial -, which also convicted Alfio Di Primo and Pietro Maccarrone (grandfather of today's suspects Claudio and Pietro) and Giuseppe Scarvaglieri himself for the crime of association .

The sentence in question reports how " to assert his dominance in the territory of Adrano, Scarvaglieri and his group engaged in a bloody fight against the rival group of " Santangelo-Taccuni" , historically allied with the Catania family "Santapaola-Ercolano", and it is also attested how Di Primo, brother-in-law of Scarvaglieri, was also a "prominent" affiliate of the same group". The dynamism of the "Scalisi" clan is also proven by the sentence of the Terra bruciata trial.

The precautionary measures carried out against members of the Scalisi and Santangelo-Taccuni families had indirectly determined the progressive establishment in the territory of the “Lo Cicero” group headed by Cristian Lo Cicero, a contact person for the Catania mafia association “Mazzei-Carcagnusi” which also intended to relocate one of its branches to Adrano.

The statements of collaborators of justice Salvatore Giarrizzo and Graziano Pellegriti were a decisive viaticum to the investigation.

The extortions
Extortion was the main business of the clan. The episodes are numerous. And, as highlighted by the chief prosecutor Francesco Curcio, apart from one case, none of the blackmailed people ever filed a complaint.
The cases, as mentioned, are numerous. The reconstructions made through wiretaps help to reconstruct the unscrupulousness of the clan.

In one of these, just before the Easter holidays, in a meeting between Salvatore Scalidi and Alfio Di Primo, when his interlocutor asked him how to behave with a shopkeeper who had presumably failed to comply with the extortion demand, he suggested that he make a demonstrative gesture with the aim of intimidating the shopkeeper, by firing a gunshot (“una botta”) at his shop.

As the conversation continued, Di Primo, clearly referring to another extortion operation he had entrusted to his associate Scafidi, asked the latter if he had gone to “the pipe dealer” and, having received a negative response, ordered him to take action to start the extortion activity.

And again: “Tell him to start by fixing 5 thousand euros euros”… “but this… 5 thousand euros in my opinion for this reason 5 thousand euros are nothing”.

In one case, one of the associates who, having collected the sum of 25,000 euros from a businessman, had not yet paid the due percentage to the boss Alfredo Di Primo sees the latter hypothesize the murder of his brother-in-law as retaliation. "The... he's blowing me out of proportion... We'll kill his brother-in-law."

In total, 21 people were arrested in the “Primus” blitz.

Do mob recruits still swear to an underground blood oath in Sicily or how does it work nowadays? Is there a made man system over there?

Some things never change there is a lot of religious symbolism in the initiation ritual and Sicily is still very Catholic/Christian.

Remember Vito Rizzuto was also involved years ago.

A year of confrontations and clashes on the most discussed work of all time the Strait Bridge.



https://www.corrieredellacalabria.i...avori-slittati-tra-polemiche-e-proteste/

they still uses the typical ceremony of initiation

Powerful boss Motisi coud be hiding in France.

Four Italians among 57 most wanted Europeans
Giovanni Motisi, Domenico Bellantoni, Vincenzo Parisi and Renato Cinquegranella are on the 'most wanted' list. One is considered the head of Cosa Nostra after the arrest of Messina Denaro. "They have blood on their hands"

Among our fellow countrymen, the most well-known name is that of Giovanni Motisi from Palermo, 66 years old on January 1, missing since 1998. Known by the nickname 'u pacchiuni, the fat one, a leading member of Cosa Nostra, after the capture of Matteo Messina Denaro he is considered by many to be the new head of the organization. A trusted killer of Totò Riina, according to the statements of a repentant, accused of murder and massacre, he has a life sentence to serve. In 1999, during the search of his villa in Palermo, a large correspondence between him and his wife came to light, notes delivered by trusted 'postmen' together with clothes and gifts. And it is from the same year that he appeared for the last time in Sicily, at his daughter's birthday party: in the photos found several years later, the walls covered with white sheets stand out so as not to make the place recognizable. Since then, nothing or almost nothing to fuel the suspicion - recurrent in large fugitives - that Motisi may be dead. The other hypothesis is that he sought, and found, refuge in France. To facilitate the search, the Police released a new identikit in April, the result of reworking the physiognomy of the face with the 'Age progression' system.

Domenico Bellantoni, 80 years old, known as Mburia, also sentenced to life imprisonment, is a 'ndrangheta killer , affiliated with the Piromalli clan from Reggio Calabria, who has been on the run since 1971. Europol describes him as "a dangerous and potentially armed individual". His CV includes, among other things, the attempted murder by gunshots of Rocco Malvaso and the murder of Francesco Tocco. Taking advantage of his criminal profile, he is also said to have induced a minor to prostitute herself in Rosarno.

Vincenzo Parisi, 75, also has a life sentence to serve. He is linked to the 'Foggia mafia', known for its ruthlessness: with two accomplices, he lured Filippo Russo and Franco Cavazzuti into a trap and killed them "for trivial reasons" with a .38 caliber pistol. According to Europol, he used a stolen and falsified identity card to escape detection and arrest.

Renato Cinquegranella , a 75-year-old Neapolitan, has practically disappeared since 2002. Wanted for mafia-style criminal association, complicity in murder, extortion and other charges, he was originally linked to the 'Nuova famiglia', historic rivals of Raffaele Cutolo's Nuova camorra organizzati: an old grainy black and white photo of him remains in the archives, with advanced baldness, glasses, a black moustache and a gaze fixed on the lens. A face like many others, yet his name appears in the judicial chronicles of two of the crimes that most shook Naples: the murder of Giacomo Frattini, alias Bambulella, a soldier of the Nco, tortured, killed and dismembered in January 1982, and the massacre of the head of the Mobile Antonio Ammaturo and his driver, Pasquale Paola, 'signed' in July of the same year by the Red Brigades. Episode that confirmed the existence of a 'wicked pact' between terrorists and the Camorra area bosses in central Naples. Since December 2018, international searches have been launched, so far without results. The Court of Cassation confirmed his life sentence in May 2014.

Palermo, attempted murder at Rotoli: Lupo remains silent about the two accomplices
by Fabio Geraci

December 29, 2024

Francesco Lupo has remained absolutely silent, he does not speak, he does not collaborate and above all he has not provided any details up to this point on the two accomplices that investigators continue to search for. He is currently detained on serious charges: attempted murder aggravated by premeditation, carrying a clandestine weapon and receiving stolen goods.

Defended by lawyers Giovanni Castronovo and Vincenzo Giambruno, the suspect seems to want to continue along the path of silence, leaving investigators with the task of reconstructing the entire network of complicities and motivations.

The investigation into the attempted murder that took place on Sunday morning in front of the Rotoli cemetery focuses precisely on the thirst for revenge of Lupo, a thirty-year-old criminal, arrested a few hours after the ambush with gunshots against Antonino Fragali, a 43-year-old Reset worker. Hatred matured from the double murder of Antonino and Giacomo Lupo, father and brother of the suspect: the two were killed in March 2019 at Zen by Giovanni Colombo, Fragali's cousin, who accused himself of the crime and was sentenced to 18 years.

https://palermo.gds.it/articoli/cro...ci-610bf093-81f6-4095-a299-c8651a9eff20/

No offense, but how are these mob hits?

they are not mob hits

https://livesicilia.it/cosa-nostra-regole-boss-non-siamo-morti-fame/

Mafia, the rules of the Etna boss: "We are not starving" Dec. 29,2024

ADRANO (CATANIA) – First rule of the Scalisi clan: you must not ask for too low sums to entrepreneurs , if they are wealthy. Because otherwise, if you ask 2,000 euros to an entrepreneur who earns millions, he “takes you for dead of hunger and leaves you for dead of hunger”.

The alleged boss of the clan, Alfio Di Primo, known as “Pisciavino”, reiterates the concept . Or even “Primus”. This is how the police understood him, taking inspiration from his surname, giving the title to the operation that decapitated the Adranita clan. A “big shot”, Di Primo. Strong in a criminal coat of arms that came from his brother-in-law in 41 bis, Pippo Scravaglieri.

The wiretaps
The collaborators of justice have spoken about it. But above all, among the evidence against him, there are wiretaps and Trojans installed in cell phones . For this operation, in fact, the DDA has confirmed how fundamental, for the police, are the technologies in the investigative field. Di Primo talks a lot, with the other mafiosi.

The repentant Giarrizzo said he learned from one of the bosses that "until Alfredo Di Primo was released I would have to help him in managing the association and the illicit activities, both concerning drug trafficking and extortion". Then, in practice, when Di Primo would be free - he who was sentenced for mafia and murder - the emergency would be over.

A “big shot”
From the wiretaps, it was said, Di Primo emerges as respected and authoritative , within Cosa Nostra. The Scalisi clan is closely tied to the so-called “mussi i ficurinia”, or the Laudani clan. And one of the wiretaps, brief, captures the conversation with another Scalisi man, who however operated in Acireale, not Adrano.

The Acireale representative affectionately calls him “joy”. And he replies “my love, they are waiting”. Then they say goodbye saying “bye bye” and “a kiss”. The gist of the conversation was an appointment at the top of the mafia in the province of Catania. The Acireale representative basically said he was there, Di Primo reassured him that his emissaries were already there waiting for him.

Lace and balances
As soon as he got out of prison, Di Primo would have immediately set to work . And to one of his “most faithful”, who the police had installed a “Trojan” in his cell phone that recorded everything, he confided: “At least from what I understand… look, I’m trying to understand something”.

The crux of the matter was the relationship between the clans that rule Adrano, namely the Scalisis and the Santangelos , and the division of the protection money. Di Primo would have tried to enter on tiptoe, but he invites everyone not to make rash decisions, not to "do rude things": "Don't do things that the Lord doesn't want".

The weapons
However, there were no doubts about him among the mafiosi: from the environmental interceptions it emerges that they consider him a “direct expression” of the family , of the Scalisis . The group led by Di Primo would also have tried not to fear anyone. And to equip themselves with weapons.

In a wiretap, Di Primo confides to his cousin that he had met some people who were trafficking weapons and that he had offered 50 thousand euros in exchange for “those things” , that is, a batch of guns. These are the intercepted words: “I told him I’ll send you a boy, I’ll get you fifty thousand euros and you bring me some of these things”.

https://livesicilia.it/palermo-mafia-41-bis-scadenza-giovanni-riina/

41 bis must have an expiry date even if the prisoner is Riina's son

PALERMO – Article 41 bis cannot be applied without a deadline. The current dangerousness of the prisoner must be assessed even if he has a heavy surname.

The Court of Cassation has annulled with referral the provision with which the Surveillance Court of Rome extended the harsh prison regime for Giovanni Riina, the life-sentenced son of the boss of bosses.

In prison for 28 years
Giovanni Riina has been in prison for 28 years for mafia and murder, and has been locked up under 41 bis since 2002. According to the Surveillance Court of Rome, the second son of Totò Riina deserves the regime reserved for the most dangerous bosses.

“Even in the absence of procedural recognition of the quality of head or promoter of the mafia association – the magistrates write – a position of 'superordination' of Riina with respect to other associates was represented”.

And again: "The mafia association is still active in the territory of Corleone and there are no signs of effective repentance , in the presence of prison conduct that is not always regular". Hence the consideration of " Riina's continuing ability to relate to subjects outside the prison circuit".

The defense of Giovanni Riina
The defense appealed, arguing that “the extension decree does not contain any renewed assessment of Riina’s subjective dangerousness .” In fact, it reiterates “the reasons for the previous decrees.”

His “superordinate” role dates back to 1996. His brother Giuseppe Salvatore is currently free , but “there has been no jurisdictional investigation into the existence of a command role exercised by Giovanni Riina through his brother”. In none of the recent proceedings “concerning the Corleonese faction of Cosa Nostra has Giovanni Riina been involved”.

What the Court of Cassation says
The Court of Cassation has ruled in favor of Totò Riina's son. The Supervisory Court did not follow "an effective and suitable argumentative path to account for the continuing need to subject the appellant to the 41 bis regime".

We are faced with "a mere appearance of motivation, with reiteration of assessments related to the appellant's family ties and not individualized".

And here is the referral to a new Surveillance Court that will have to better specify what the current dangerousness of Giovanni Riina is. For him, the glimmer of being able to leave the restrictions provided for by the hard prison opens up.

Exactly, even if they were committed in an area controlled by the Mafia, and even if the killers and victims themselves may have been mobsters, it doesn't make them mob hits. This is more like a crime of passion.

The Court of Cassation annuls with referral the 41 bis for Riina's son, Antoci: "This measure cannot be justified"
Giovanni, Totò's son, was arrested in '96 and has been in hard prison since 2002

Totò Riina's son, Giovanni, arrested in '96 and in hard prison since 2002, has had his appeal against the Ministry of Justice's extension of Article 41 bis in November 2023 accepted by the Court of Cassation, with referral. But now the judges, examining the prisoner's appeal, have deemed the motivation of the Rome surveillance court, which last June had deemed the provision correct, to be "merely apparent".

"The Court of Cassation would have annulled the provision that extends the 41-bis regime to the mafioso Giovanni Riina, second son of the mafia boss and massacrer Totò Riina for apparent motivation - says Giuseppe Antoci, MEP of the M5S and president of the Political Commission Dmed of the European Parliament -. Due to a defect of form, due to an argumentative path not adequately rich carried out by the judges of merit, a leading exponent of Cosa Nostra is allowed to re-establish contacts with the outside. In a state of law - continues Antoci - the jurisdictional provisions must be fully motivated, but it cannot be expected that a situation of clear mafia-like nature can be argued in terms that are different each time, nor can it be stated that the current danger represented by the mafia bosses must be reconsidered each time in the motivation, without being deduced from the same membership in the mafia, from which one has never dissociated oneself".

"The fight against the mafia - concludes Antoci - is done with the appropriate regulatory tools and their correct application; but it cannot be the defects of form that nullify the results that thirty years of virtuous judicial contrast have produced".


Award vacation in Palermo for Raffaele Galatolo, the Acquasanta killer
For the Palermo Prosecutor's Office he remains a dangerous mafioso and must remain in prison for life, for the Naples Surveillance Court he is "a model prisoner"

The new day release for Raffaele Galatolo, 74, Acquasanta killer and Totò Riina's most loyal follower, who is spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays in Palermo, in the neighborhood where he once dictated the law, is becoming a case.

For the Palermo Prosecutor's Office, Galatolo is and remains a dangerous mafioso who must remain in prison for life, for the Naples surveillance court he is instead a model prisoner, so much so as to deserve a reward permit, which will last until January 4. Galatolo, one of the leaders of the infamous "death chamber" in Vicolo Pipitone, where they used to kill the enemies of the boss of bosses, had already returned to Palermo last autumn.

Thus, after the news of the last few days of the cancellation of the 41 bis for Giovanni Riina, the son of the "beast", the list of bosses and mafiosi who leave prison for permits or who obtain less harsh prison regimes is growing. On December 28, the Surveillance Office of Padua had granted nine days of leave to the life-sentenced boss Ignazio Bonaccorsi, 67, head of the Carateddi clan of Catania, a trusted man of the historic mafia boss Turi Cappello.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ia-victims-fear-return-of-freed-mobsters

Families of Sicilian mafia victims fear return of freed mobsters
Most of the bosses, released from prison on furlough or for good behaviour, have never disavowed Cosa Nostra

https://siciliatv.org/2025/01/05/ma...la-spartizione-delle-attivita-criminali/

Mafia, Dia report: Cosa Nostra and Stidda allies in the division of criminal activities

Breakthrough in Piersanti Mattarella's murder, two suspects
Breakthrough in investigations 45 years after the murder of the President of the Republic's brother: two alleged killers investigated

Published 1 day agoFrom the editorial team
The Palermo Public Prosecutor's Office is once again investigating the murder of the President of the Sicilian Region Piersanti Mattarella, who was murdered in front of his wife, Irma Chiazzese, on January 6, 1980, in front of his home in the center of Palermo. The magistrates, as reported by the newspaper la Repubblica, have also identified the killers as two men of honor. This last piece of news is something that investigators have not confirmed. A new chapter in a 45-year-long investigation that in recent months has led the Public Prosecutor's Office to request photographs taken at the crime scene from several newspapers, including ANSA.

The members of the Cosa Nostra Commission that decided on the ambush were convicted for the Mattarella murder. While the material perpetrators remained nameless. The two accused fascists, Valerio Fioravanti and Gilberto Cavallini, were tried and definitively acquitted. In particular, Fioravanti had been identified as the possible killer by Mattarella's widow, but his testimony did not stand up to the scrutiny of the judges. In the investigation, shelved several times, a convergence of interests between the mafia and black subversion was always hypothesized. This thesis was also advanced by Giovanni Falcone. Red herrings, dark plots, mafia, occult powers, black subversion: 45 years later, the killing of Piersanti Mattarella, president of the Sicilian Region and brother of the head of state, is therefore still a seething magma. A case that has never been closed.

In addition to the prosecutors, on the anniversary of the ambush, it is being reopened by a documentary film by Giorgia Furlan (“Magma. Mattarella, the perfect crime”), a pressing investigation into what is described as the most serious crime after that of Aldo Moro. Mattarella was his protégé and his heir: in Sicily he had taken up his line of renewal of political life and of convinced openings towards the PCI. The documentary film – produced by Mauro Parissone for 42° Parallelo, Antonio Campo dell'Orto and Ferruccio De Bortoli – will be presented in Rome with a national preview on 9 January 2025 (Cinema Moderno) and in Bologna with a special screening (Cinema Modernissimo). The lines of a political project that, already with Moro, had called into question the balances of the Cold War, are being recomposed around the Mattarella case. And in addition, a government with “the right papers” had been created that had lifted the veil on the Sicilian system of connivance and convergence of interests between the mafia, occult powers and politics. Mattarella himself was aware of the risks he was facing, as he confided to the head of his secretariat, Maria Trizzino, after a confidential conversation with Minister Virginio Rognoni. Many moral lessons and images of Piersanti Mattarella’s political relations have come down to us from that experience, as well as the dramatic shots of Letizia Battaglia who by chance found herself filming her brother Sergio, the current head of state, while he was trying to help him.

The docufilm reconstructs and reinterprets through various testimonies such as those of the journalist Attilio Bolzoni, the sociologist Pino Arlacchi, the former presidents of the anti-mafia commission, Rosy Bindi, a student of Vittorio Bachelet, and Luciano Violante, of Andrea Speranzoni, a civil party lawyer in the Bologna massacre trial, the complex scenario in which the crime matured. The film does not offer answers but raises relevant questions and issues. It is a journey into collective memory, the reconstruction of a "perfect crime" (Licio Gelli's definition) and an open wound in an Italy that, as Rosy Bindi claims, "has never been a completely free country".

Wife dies in Belmonte Mezzagno, mafia boss Spera asks for permission to go to funeral

Maria Liberata Spera, 87, the wife of Benedetto Spera, the mafia boss of Belmonte Mezzagno, sentenced to life imprisonment, has died. Her 90-year-old husband, who is detained under 41 bis in the Opera prison, has asked for permission to say his last farewell.

The Milan Surveillance Court has previously denied the boss permission to visit his sick wife. Similarly, requests for a reward permit and deferral of sentence for health reasons were rejected.

Benedetto Spera, arrested in 2001, was the head of the Belmonte Mezzagno district. The DDA, the prosecutor's office and the Palermo police headquarters have always given a negative opinion because the prisoner is considered socially dangerous and could reactivate contacts with Cosa Nostra.

Lawyer Maurizio Di Marco, Spera's lawyer, has filed several requests for Bernardo Provenzano's most loyal follower, arrested in the Mezzojuso countryside after nine years on the run.

Spera became part of a "directorate" that ruled Cosa Nostra after 1995 when it was established by Provenzano. This group "of about four to seven people met very infrequently, only when necessary, when there were strategic decisions to make".
Among the other members of the directorate were Salvatore Lo Piccolo from Palermo; Andrea Manciaracina from Mazara del Vallo; Salvatore Rinella from Trabia; Giuseppe Balsano from Monreale; Matteo Messina Denaro from Castelvetrano; Vincenzo Virga from Trapani; and Antonino Giuffrè from Caccamo.

https://livesicilia.it/palermo-ristoranti-mafia-denuncia-pizzo-estorsioni/

Many restaurateurs paid, only one complaint: "I freed myself from the pizzo"

PALERMO – “They were suffocating, I had no other choice,” says the restaurateur. The choice was to confide in the carabinieri and ask for support from Addiopizzo in the path he had decided to take.

First he reported the men of the racket and then he became a civil party, the only one among many traders who chose to remain silent. Restaurant owners like him in the seaside village of Sferravallo.

Tommaso Natale's bosses guaranteed protection. No unfair competition, no hotheads partying and scaring customers, no thefts in the kingdom of Michele Micalizzi, the boss arrested again after serving a long sentence. And if someone dared to steal inside a place protected by the mafia, the loot was recovered.

According to the Palermo Prosecutor's Office, Rosario Gennaro and Matteo Pandolfo were allegedly charged by Amedeo Romeo with collecting the protection money.

“They wanted a hundred euros a month,” says the restaurateur. “I paid first to one and then to another. It was nine long months, they were threatening. Then I said enough. I thought I had no way out, but fear can be overcome ,” he adds.

After the confidence made to the police, the wiretaps arrived. The request for protection money was recorded live. The blitz was followed by the trial. The businessman did not take a step back and joined the preliminary hearing as a civil party with the assistance of Addiopizzo's lawyers.

In addition to the elderly boss Michele Micalizzi, the accused include his son Giuseppe, Gianluca Spanu, Domenico Caviglia, Amedeo Romeo, Rosario Gennaro, Matteo Pandolfo, Gaetana Mulieddo, Vincenzo Garofalo, Carmelo Cusimano, Giuseppe Guida, Francesco Nappa, Ivan Meli and Gioacchino Randazzo.

"It was thanks to a process of listening and support carried out together with the victim, that the choice to oppose and not give in to extortion requests was consolidated. A system of protection and support has now been consolidated that is able to ensure the best conditions for those who report", explain the anti-racket committee.

The restaurateur did not pay. A man of foreign origin but a Palermo resident by adoption has set an example. A circumstance to be highlighted on the eve of a watershed anniversary . On January 10, 1991 Libero Grassi denounced his tormentors with the letter to the “Dear Extortionist”. Tomorrow morning, Friday January 10, the App of critical anti-racket consumption “Pago chi non paga” will be presented at the Addiopizzo headquarters .

“34 years after that incident, even if there are those who continue to pay the extortion – the Committee explains – the choice to report today is not only possible but does not even need the media hype that Libero Grassi was forced to endure .

https://livesicilia.it/mafia-sette-condanne-ad-agrigento-22-anni-al-boss-falsone-nomi/

Mafia, seven sentences in Agrigento: 22 years for the boss Falsone NAMES

AGRIGENTO - The judges of the second criminal section of the Agrigento court, presided over by Wilma Angela Mazzara, have sentenced the boss Giuseppe Falsone of Campobello di Licata, serving a life sentence under the 41 bis regime, to 22 years of imprisonment; the Palermo DDA had requested 24.

According to the judges, he had resumed command by exploiting his lawyer Angela Porcello who transmitted all his messages to the outside.

The sentences
A total of seven convictions were handed down to the Stidda members and the policeman Filippo Pitruzzella who was under investigation for external association with the mafia, and two acquittals.

The lawyer from Canicattì, Calogero Lo Giudice, who ended up on trial (and resigned from his role as secretary of the criminal chamber 4 years ago, following his involvement in the investigation) was acquitted on charges of having helped his colleague Porcello to falsify a stamp on the date of an appeal to avoid a final conviction and the arrest of a client. The prosecutor had requested 2 years and 4 months for him. Also acquitted (the prosecutor had requested 4 years) was Calogero Valenti, 59, from Canicattì, accused of aiding and abetting.

The names
In addition to the life-sentenced boss Giuseppe Falsone , the provincial head of Cosa Nostra arrested in Marseille on 25 June 2010, the judges of the Agrigento court have sentenced six other defendants in the Xydi investigation.

Twenty-nine years were given to Antonino Chiazza, 55, alleged boss of the Stidda (30 years was the request); 18 years for Pietro Fazio, 52, alleged affiliate of the Stidda (24 years); 28 years for Santo Gioacchino Rinallo, 65, also considered a leading affiliate of the Stidda (25 years); 22 years for Antonio Gallea, 67, alleged member of the Stidda (20 years), all from Canicattì. Twelve years and one month instead for Filippo Pitruzzella, 64, retired police inspector, accused of external complicity in mafia association for having acted as a “mole” for Angela Porcello and her mafia partner Giancarlo Buggea. Pitruzzella, for whom the DDA had requested 11 years, was on duty at the Canicattì police station and was considered “at disposal”.

Pitruzzella has always maintained that he tried to "use" the lawyer Porcello to capture, on behalf of the secret services, the former super-fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro, investigated in the investigation. Sentenced to 1 year and 6 months, Stefano Saccomando, 47 years old, from Palma di Montechiaro, accused of aiding and abetting (4 years was the request) was found guilty of having lied to the investigators and denied threats by Buggea and other affiliates related to the sale price of a batch of fruit. The judges excluded the aggravating circumstance of aiding and abetting the mafia and the sentence was suspended.