https://www.corrieredellacalabria.i...i-e-magistrati-ci-rivelavano-le-notizie/the minutes
'Ndrangheta, the “hot” statements of the former broker Pasquino. «Lawyers and magistrates revealed the news to us»
The representative of the "new generation" of the Volpiano club gave names and surnames in front of the PMs of the DDA of Catanzaro and Turin
Published: 05/04/2025 – 6:34
LAMEZIA TERME «My group and I had some lawyers who gave us news from the judiciary». It was the morning of May 24, 2024 when in Rome, in Rebibbia, before the prosecutors of the Catanzaro DDA, Antonio De Bernardo and Francesco Pelosi and Mario Bandoni of the Turin Anti-Mafia District, Vincenzo Pasquino, the now uncrowned king of international drug trafficking, appears ready to tell everything he knows because, as he has explained several times, «he feared that someone could kill him, even for a little money, in Brazil». The country that has held him in custody for three years, since 2021, the year in which he was arrested in a residence in Joao Pessoa by the federal police of the South American country and the Carabinieri of the ROS, after a period of fugitiveism, while he was in the company of the 'ndrangheta boss and drug trafficker Rocco Morabito, before his extradition to Italy. And Pasquino's are "fiery" statements contained in a report acquired in the "Factotum" investigation by the Turin DDA which, in recent days, closed the investigations.
Pasquino_broker_arrest_Brazil_ndrangheta
Lawyers, magistrates and “services”
A leading member of the Calabrian 'ndrangheta and fully-fledged member of the 'ndrangheta local in Volpiano, Piedmont, a collaborator of justice for just over a year, Pasquino outlined what, according to him, was a real "system to know in advance investigative information" that was evidently confidential. In particular, the drug broker pointed the finger at two lawyers. " One of them is Staiano, the other is Bertolino from the Turin Bar Association." As can be seen from the statements made by Pasquino before the prosecutors of the two DDAs, "they were the ones who gave us the news of the investigations."
And again: "When Belnome, who had accused himself of the murder of Carmelo Novella, repented," Pasquino says that it was "Staiano who warned the Vitales that he (Belnome, ed.) was also talking about us in Turin." Pasquino, speaking to the prosecutors, insists that the Turin lawyer had "close" relations with a judge. «They had business for trips to Lourdes with (…) and his wife who organized the pilgrimages. I also found the bugs at home thanks to him».
The former drug trafficker also mentions «the lawyer from Locri, tall and thin, he also told us things» and that «he had a special eye for Platì» . Lawyers and magistrates, but also a member of the Carabinieri. Pasquino mentions everyone. «Patrick Assisi had told me that the Platioti had relations with Delfino, meaning the member of the Carabinieri who would have left him the relations with the services. And also through the lawyer from Locri I know that he had the relations with the services».
And he ups the ante in front of the prosecutors of the Catanzaro DDA: «Many previous collaborators did not touch these people, precisely because they knew that they were afraid of the fact that they had the secret services behind them…».
Vincenzo Pasquino Rocco Morabito Ndrangheta
Rocco Morabito and Vincenzo Pasquino
Credibility “in the balance”
Statements that are burning and protected, until now, under the shadow of the “omissis”. The weight of Pasquino’s statements, in any case, will have to be evaluated with respect to a credibility that has yet to be earned. Involved in the “Eureka” trial and also arrested in the “Samba” investigation of the Turin DDA – whose position has been consolidated – the defense has contested several statements made by the collaborator of justice. Starting with the relationships with the Assisi that the repentant says – in the reports – to have “interrupted to reach an agreement with the Brazilian PCC”. Relationships that the prosecutors of the Turin DDA first and the investigating judge later, had instead defined as “indissoluble” thanks to a series of investigative elements that emerged on the relationships between Pasquino, the “Platioti” and the Assisi. Pasquino himself in some reports - and this is another dispute of the lawyers - talks about the lack of trust of the Assisi towards the Platioti for the exfiltration of a load of 200kg of cocaine from the port of Gioia Tauro, in others, instead, he talks about «having gone to Brazil to help Antonio Agresta» for the transatlantic route, «thanks to the “exit” in Gioia Tauro through Rosario Grasso» and «having gone to Brazil to provide material help to the Assisi after the arrest of Michael». ( g.curcio@corrierecal.it )
