Mafioso gets 30 yrs for bomb that killed mum, kids
Vincenzo Galatolo convicted in attack on prosecutor Carlo Palermo

(ANSA) - CALTANISSETTA, NOV 13 - A Sicilian mafioso got 30 years in jail Friday for a 1985 bomb attack on a Trapani investigating magistrate that killed a mother and her two six-year-old twin boys in a passing car.
Vincenzo Galatolo was convicted of planting the bomb at Pizzolungo in Trapani intended to kill prosecutor Carlo Palermo.
Palermo was miraculously unhurt but the bomb killed Barbara Rizzo, 33, and her six-year-old twin sons Salvatore and Giuseppe Asta.
Palermo was deeply shocked by the incident and eventually left the magistrature. (ANSA).

Crumbling of the drug empire of Cosa Nostra, 101 arrests

CATANIA - The carabinieri of Catania, this morning, made a "clean sweep" of the entire military organization of Cosa Nostra that controls the drug trafficking in the San Giovanni Galermo area, where the mafia controlled 12 drug dealing squares.

The name hit by the raid is that of the "Nizza" group, which over the years has seen the two men of honor Daniele and Fabrizio Nizza at the top and then the young scion Andrea, captured after a long period of fugitive from the carabinieri. Today old and new guards end up in jail. In addition to the ordinances that will be delivered directly to the cell.

An impressive operation that took place this morning at dawn: over 400 Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Catania in the field, who received the support of the soldiers of the other Sicilian provinces and of the specialized departments of the Carabinieri who are carrying out a precautionary custody order issued by the investigating judge of Catania, on input from the Dda, against 101 people under investigation, for various reasons, included mafia association, drugs and weapons.


All names

Subjects recipients of precautionary measures in prison:

BARBAGALLO Giuseppe, born in 1998, already in prison
BARBAGALLO Vincenzo, born in 1980
BARBATO Christian, born in 1996
BATTAGLIA Marco, born in 1969
BELGIORNO Giuseppe Emanuele, born in 1977
BELLANTI Salvatore, born in 1983
BELLIA Letizia, born in 1972
BIAZZO Giuseppe, born in 1994, already under house arrest
BIAZZO Simone, born in 1999, already under house arrest
BONACETO Antonino, born in 1994, already under house arrest
CALABRETTA Andrea, born in 1992, already under house arrest
CALABRETTA Mario Maurizio, born in 1988, already under house arrest
CALÌ Antonio, born in 1984
CALÌ Gianluca, born in 1988
CASTAGNA Orazio, born in 1993
CAUDULLO Domenico, born in 1998
CELANO Salvatore, born in 1990
CIPRIANO Hermann, born in 1996
CONSOLI Renato concept, born in 1968
DANUBIO Orazio, born in 1983
DE LUCA Antonino, born in 1994
DE LUCA Damiano, born in 1990
DI BENEDETTO Luciano, born in 1977, already under house arrest
DI MAURO Simone, born in 1998
DI PASQUALE Alessandro, born in 1970
DI PASQUALE Dario, born in 1995
DI PASQUALE Francesco, born in 1995
FICHERA Giuseppe Benedetto Simone, born in 1993, already under house arrest
FINOCCHIARO Francesco, born in 1993, already under house arrest
FRANCESCHINO Antonino Silvestro, born in 1997
FURNARI Fabio, born in 1990
FURNARI Gabriele, born in 1992
GENNARO Filippo, born in 1971, already in prison
GIUDICE Simone, born in 2000
GRASSO Giovanni, born in 1996
GRASSO Ignazio, born in 1960
GRECO Lucia, born in 1998
ILARDO Alessandro, born in 1999
LA CHINA Salvatore, born in 1998, already under house arrest
LANZAFAME Natale, born in 1988, already under house arrest
LA PIANA Antonino Andrea, born in 1986
LA PIANA Vincenzo, born in 1961
LA ROSA Carlo Giovanni, born in 1992
LONGO Antonio, born in 1973, already in prison
MAIURI Raffaele Ferdinando, born in 1990
MARCANZÃ’ Antonio, born in 1990
MASCI Pietro, born in 1982, already under house arrest
MASOTTA Felice, born in 1972
MIRABELLA Giuseppe, born in 1998
MUSUMECI Alessandro, born in 1986, already under house arrest
MUSUMECI Salvatore, born in 1996
NICIFORO Concetto, born in 1996
PATTI Fabio, born in 1984
PLATANIA Giovanni, born in 1994, already under house arrest
PREVITE Massimiliano, born in 1994, already under house arrest
PRIVITERA Carmelo, born in 1962
PRIVITERA Ignazio, born in 1964
PRIVITERA Stefano, born in 1987
RAINERI Graziella, born in 1964
RAINERI Pietro Alessio, born in 1995
RAPISARDA Giuseppe Paolo, born in 1982
RAPISARDA Nazzareno, born in 1958
RAPISARDA Piero, born in 1980, already in prison
SANFILIPPO Antonino, born in 1976
SAPUPPO Giuseppe, born in 1962
SAPUPPO Santo, born in 1966, already in prison
SCALIA Carmelo, born in 1992, already in prison
SCHILLACI Lorenzo Michele, born in 1968, already under house arrest
SPAMPINATO Carmelo, born in 1971, already under house arrest
SPAMPINATO Giambattista, born in 1990, already in prison
STRANO Natale, born in 1995.
TOMASELLI Alessandro, born in 1976, already in prison
FOUND Antonino, born in 1988
TUDISCO Francesco, born in 1980
VACCALLUZZO Maurizio, born in 1989, already under house arrest
VALASTRO Dario, born in 1984
VECCHIO Alessandro, born in 1988, already under house arrest
ZUCCARO Samuele, born in 1996

Subjects recipients of precautionary measures of house arrest:

COPPOLA Orazio Salvatore, born in 1973
GUERRERA Eugenio, born in 1998
LANZAFAME Giovanni Michele, born in 1995
NUCCIO Emmanuel, born in 1998
PRIVITERA Maurizio, born in 1973
RUSSO Christian, born in 1999
SCALIA Giuseppe Samuele, born in 1975
SQUILLACI Oreste, born in 1972
VINCIGUERRA Domenico, born in 1991

Subjects recipients of precautionary measures of the residence obligation:

ALLEGRA Cirino Nicola, born in 1977
IERNA Marianna, born in 1988
MAIURI Vanessa Sheila, born in 1995
RIVOLI Giuseppe, born in 1991

Recipients of the obligation to submit to the PG:

AIELLO Concetto, born in 1970, already under house arrest
FRANCESCHINI Nicola, born in 1947
ILARDO Giuseppe, born in 1962
MAIURI Carmelo, born in 1963
MARCANZÃ’ Salvatore, born in 1972
MINNELLA Eugenio, born in 1991, already in prison
RAINERI Giuseppe Santo, born in 1968
SPERANZA Ignazio Christian, born in 1991

the acting boss of giostra clan, the businessman giuseppe irrera was so powerful whowho convinced the santapaola's to repeat a horse race that he thought had been rigged by the people from catania

https://youtu.be/1zFYLX8zc3w

12 Catania drugs markets busted, 80 arrests, 101 probed
Major blow to mafia in eastern Sicilian city says Tofalo

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/ge...21c5a7f-d5fc-4ef6-9cff-597506b7a349.html

Cosa Nostra and illegal betting: 15 arrests in Palermo

Blitz between Sicily and Campania by the financiers of the economic-financial police unit

PALERMO - After the surrender last June, the financial investigations into the Cosa Nostra betting agencies have continued until today's blitz.
As delegated by the Public Prosecutor's Office , the investigation is coordinated by the Deputy Prosecutor Salvo De Luca and by the substitutes Dario Scaletta and Maria Pio Ticino, the financiers of the provincial command of Palermo , have executed an order signed by the judge for preliminary investigations Walter Turturici towards fifteen people, The anti-mafia specialists of the Gico of the Palermo economic-financial police unit have developed a second line of investigation. Two distinct criminal associations would have been organized, parallel but both attributable to Salvatore Rubino who, as it had emerged a few months ago, would have used mafia capital for his takeover. The two organizations ran a betting round of no less than 2.5 million euros per month.
The first criminal group, headed by Vincenzo Fiore and Christian Tortora and made up of Salvatore Barrale, Maurizio Di Bella, Pasquale Somma and Giovanni Castagnetta, managed a network of agencies entrusted to trusted people, called masters.
The second organization, which also managed betting centers through which illicit collection operated, had Chianello Rosario and Guarino Michelangelo as prominent figures and made use of the collaboration of Giovanni Di Noto, known as "Gianfranco", already arrested on charges of being an element prominent member of the La Noce mafia family.
Davide Catalano, Giacomo Bilello, Pietro Montalto, Antonio Inserra and Salvatore Lombardo were also part of this criminal group.
The illegal collection of bets took place through the "screen" of agencies authorized by the Monopolies. The under-the-counter managers accepted bets that were handled not on the official network but through illegal foreign platforms.

Mafia, the repentant: “The general who died in a car accident? He was actually killed. He was investigating opaque relations between carabinieri and politicians "

The repentant Riggio says he learned from the former policeman Peluso that "the general of the carabinieri Gennaro Niglio, who died in a car accident, was actually killed". Investigate the prosecutor of Caltanissetta

The then commander of the Carabinieri of the Sicily Region did not die from the consequences of a road accident, as has always been believed up to now. Instead, he was assassinated. This is supported by Pietro Riggio , the last repentant of Cosa Nostra who is telling the Caltanissetta prosecutor's office about the confidences received from Giovanni Peluso , a former policeman accused of being linked to service circles. “He told me that the general of the carabinieri Gennaro Niglio, who died in a car accident, had actually been killed. He was a rigorous man, Niglio. He was ascertaining the opaque relations between some members of the Army and political figures ”, claimed the collaborator, as told by the journalist Salvo Palazzolo in the Palermo edition of Repubblica . Niglio, at the time commander of the Sicily Region , died on May 9, 2004, two weeks after his car went off the road along the highway that connects Palermo with Catania.


Riggio's story led deputy prosecutor Gabriele Paci and substitute Pasquale Pacifico to order the Caltanissetta mobile squad, led by Marzia Giustolisi, to investigate that car accident. Investigators have begun to acquire the documents of that affair. And it is clear that a few years ago a doctor active in the battles on the so-called Terra dei Fuochi told the magistrates: "I was warned by the boss Carmine Schiavone to be particularly careful about road accidents as happened to another referent and friend: Gennaro Niglio". “Shortly before he died I gave the general a note of mine in which yes
he spoke of investigations into Provenzano and Messina Denaro, investigations that I had not been able to complete. Through a confidant of mine, I had also identified the nurse who was looking after Bernardo Provenzano ”, recently told Nicolò Gebbia , retired general of the Carabinieri, heard as witnesses by the magistrates of the investigation into the State-Mafia negotiation process . At the same trial, Riggio was heard, who now says he learned from Peluso that that road accident was actually a staging. Peluso, a former policeman, is accused by the repentant of having had a role in the Capaci massacre : he is currently under investigation by the Caltanissetta prosecutor's office.


https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/20...achi-tra-carabinieri-e-politici/6017730/

Mafia, confiscation of 150 million for the assets of the builder of the "sack" of Palermo

At the disposal of the Court of Appeal of the Sicilian capital, the confiscation of the entire assets of Francesco Zummo, a building contractor, has taken place, accused of being "available" to Cosa Nostra "since the time of Riina and Provenzano for money laundering in the construction sector ", argue the magistrates

https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/mafie/

Salvatore Genovese, 77, from San Giuseppe Jato, arrested by Dia in 2000 and locked up in the Opera prison in Milan, died in hospital from complications from Covid.

Genovese was considered the godfather of the center in the Palermo area and was arrested after a period as a fugitive. The arrest took place in a cottage in the Manara district, on the border of the territories of San Giuseppe Jato and Monreale. The body will return to San Giuseppe Jato in the next few days.

The Commission of Cosa Nostra is destroyed: 46 sentences arrive, inflicted over 4 centuries in prison
The abridged excerpt of the trial born from the "Cupola 2.0" operation completed exactly two years ago ends at first instance. The investigators thwarted the attempt to reconstitute the Provincial Commission after the death of Totò Riina and discovered dozens of extortions. 9 defendants acquitted


Once the Cosa Nostra Commission is disintegrated, there are ... sentences for bosses and followers
„
It is certainly the most important anti-mafia investigation of recent years because it has allowed to foil a new attempt to reconstitute the provincial commission of Cosa Nostra after the death of the boss who had been its undisputed leader for more than a quarter of a century, Totò Riina. . Today, with the sentence handed down for 55 defendants in the bunker of the Ucciardone by the gup Rosario Di Gioia, at the end of the trial that took place with the abbreviated procedure, 46 sentences and 9 acquittals arrived. In all, 435 years in prison were inflicted. The judge essentially accepted the requests of the prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi, the deputy Salvatore De Luca and the substitutes Amelia Luise, Francesca Mazzocco, Dario Scaletta, Gaspare Spedale and Bruno Brucoli, who had coordinated the investigations of the carabinieri andthe maxiblitz "Cupola 2.0" scored exactly two years ago, on December 4, 2018. At the end of January, on the 22, other arrests arrived with the "Cupola 2.0 bis" operation . The prosecutors had asked for over 7 centuries in prison (precisely 727 years).

Compensation to entrepreneurs and municipalities, but not to that of Palermo ...
The sentences
The 15-page device was read in the courtroom where the Maxi trial was held at around 2 pm and 46 prisoners were sentenced. Here are the penalties that the judge inflicted on each of them, in strict alphabetical order: Stefano Albanese 9 years and 2 months, Filippo Annatelli 13 years and 4 months, the repentant Filippo Bisconti 6 years, Giuseppe Bonanno 5 years and 8 months, Carmelo Cacocciola 7 years, Giovanni Cancemi 8 years, Francesco Caponetto 13 years and 4 months, the repentant Francesco Colletti 6 and a half years, Giovanna Comito a year and 8 months (suspended sentence, is defended by the lawyers Alessandro Martorana and Giovanni Pecorella), Giuseppe Costa 9 years, Maurizio Crinò 10 years, Filippo Cusimano 9 years and 4 months, Rubens D'Agostino 10 years, Gregorio Di Giovanni 15 years and 4 months, Filippo Di Pisa 8 years and 8 months, Andrea Ferrante 8 years, Salvatore Ferrante 2 years and 8 months,

The acquittals
For 9 other defendants, the GUP decided for acquittal, thus exonerating them of the accusations made by the Prosecutor's Office. It is first of all the alleged boss of Ballarò, Massimo Mulè (defended by the lawyers Giovanni Castronovo and Marco Clementi) Giacomo Alaimo, Gioacchino Badagliacca, Giusto Giordano (defended by the lawyer Salvatore Gugino), Rosolino Mirabella (assisted by the lawyers Castronovo and Silvana Tortorici ), Andrea Mirino (defended by the lawyer Amalia Imbrociano), Nicolò Orlando (defended by the lawyer Domenico Cacocciola), Pietro Scafidi and Giusto Sucato (defended by the lawyer Domenico La Blasca).

The defendant died of Covid
Another defendant, Vincenzo Sucato, 76, accused of having been the head of the Misilmeri clan and already convicted years ago for the mafia, died during the trial . It was also the first inmate who died of Covid in Italy, last April 1st. He was imprisoned in the Dozza prison in Bologna and an investigation into manslaughter was opened on his death, following the denunciation of his family, defended by the lawyer Domenico La Blasca. Sucato was suffering from various pathologies and therefore among the subjects highly at risk in case of contagion from Coronavirus. Despite the requests of his lawyer, however, he would have been left in the cell, where he had actually contracted the virus.


Potrebbe interessarti: https://www.palermotoday.it/cronaca/mafia/cupola-processo-condanne-assoluzioni.html

Another blitz in the night in the province of Trapani. The policemen of the operational central service and the colleagues of the mobile teams of Trapani and Palermo who carried out thirteen arrests ordered by the Palermo anti-mafia district directorate.

The Calatafimi - Segesta clan has been hit.

The allegations against the suspects are, for various reasons, mafia association, extortion, fire, theft, personal aiding and electoral corruption, aggravated by the mafia method.

In handcuffs, the new head of the mafia family of Calatafimi, which is part of the Alcamo district, is finished: it is Nicolò Pidone, 57, a former seasonal worker of the Forestry who had already been arrested in 2012, after having served his sentence he was back in service with an even more authoritative role. According to the investigations, clan meetings were held in his farm.

Salvatore Barone, former president of ATM, the municipal transport company of Trapani, was also arrested . He is accused of mafia association. Today he runs a social winery.

Stefano Leo was also arrested in the blitz , believed to be very close to the boss Vito Gondola, the boss of Mazara who in recent years managed the communication system of the superlatant Matteo Messina Denaro.

A guarantee notice was also notified to the mayor of Calatafimi, Antonino Accardo , accused of electoral corruption and attempted extortion, with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia.
Against Accardo there are some wiretaps, in one of which they talk about votes in exchange for money, 50 euros per vote. For him also the accusation of attempted extortion.

Accardo, a retired teacher, was elected a year and a half ago. After those of Castellammare del Golfo, Nicola Rizzo, and Paceco, Giuseppe Scarcella, is the third mayor of Trapani involved in investigations related to Cosa Nostra in recent months.

Among the suspects there is also an agent of the penitentiary police on duty in the Palermo prison of Pagliarelli: he is accused of disclosing confidential information.

Mafia: Mayor Alimena suspended after sentencing
Provision of the Prefect of Palermo

PALERMO, DEC 14 - Sentenced three days ago by the Court of Palermo for political-mafia electoral exchange, Giuseppe Scrivano was suspended from the office of mayor of Alimena by a decree of the Prefect. Scrivano was sentenced to 4 years and 8 months.

The lawyer Vincenzo Lo Re, lawyer of the mayor, has announced an appeal to the civil court of Palermo, in the light of the provision that has brought the mayor of Catania Salvo Pogliese back into office.

Catania, usury and extortion: eighteen people under arrest
by Natale Bruno

The Laudani clan functioned as a debt collection agency
DECEMBER 16, 2020
1 MINUTE READ
The Laudani clan functioned as a debt collection agency, acting as an intermediary between those who had to recover sums that others did not want to pay. And then the public auctions with heavy interference in the judicial procedures for the sale of goods. These were the affairs of the Laudani clan decimated by the “Report” operation: eighteen arrested, ten in prison and eight under house arrest. 37 suspects in two years of investigation from 2017 to 2019.

It all stems from wiretapping in prison from which it emerges that the regent of the clan for the Acese area Orazio Scuto, known as "the glassmaker", communicated with his friends through pizzini that he hid in the bricks of fruit juices and in the chocolate bars that he entrusted to daughter, Valentina, ended up under house arrest. Communications aimed above all at his most trusted man, Rino Messina. And so it was found that the clan "fed" on extortion with the classic method with extortion of entrepreneurs and professionals and then with debt collection: in front of the armed men of the "mussi 'ri ficurinia," prickly pear faces ", as they are called , it was difficult to refrain from paying or settling open accounts and at least eight have been rebuilt.

Public auctions that were tempting: six were discovered. One in particular concerns an apartment in which the intervention of Rino Messina was requested in order to alter the sale procedure of the property.

Gennaro Tramontano is the commander of the economic and financial police unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Catania who took care of these aspects: "There is an aspect that we highlighted during the investigations and it is that of the management of judicial auctions towards which organized crime has had interest. Often and willingly at the request of the bankrupt entrepreneurs themselves, the Laudani clan has spent its time in altering the regular conduct of bankruptcy procedures ".

Mafia: confiscation of 100 million euros from a building developer
Gaspare Finocchio had already been sentenced to 7 years and three months

(ANSA) - PALERMO, DEC 17 - The Court of Cassation has sealed the maxi confiscation of 100 million euros against Gaspare Finocchio, 89, the building contractor sentenced by the court of appeal in 2007 to 7 years and 3 months' imprisonment for mafia association. The financiers of the provincial command carried out the confiscation order of the prevention measures section, at the request of the DDA. Finocchio was arrested in 2003, together with his son Giuseppe and his brothers Diego and Pietro Rinella, believed to be the top subjects of the Trabia mafia family.

Antonino Giuffrè in his statements said: "The coast from Buonfornello to Campofelice was a land of conquest and destruction" for the mafia that in those years invested in the province and precisely in these circumstances Gaspare Finocchio had accepted the fictitious title of some of the assets of the Rinella family.

Other collaborators of justice, including Salvatore Contorno, Tullio Cannella, Giovanni Brusca and Giovanni Drago, have then affirmed over time that Finocchio was a business partner or in any case an entrepreneur "close" to other mafia exponents of the Cosa Nostra from Palermo, including the Graviano family .

Francesco 'Ciccio' La Rocca, historic boss of Cosa Nostra, died after a long illness. He died at the Bari Polyclinic where he was under house arrest. Originally from San Michele di Ganzaria, La Rocca was the man of 'hinge' between the Catania family of Santapaola Ercolano and the 'Cosa Nostra' of Palermo.

He had recently released from prison following the worsening of his health conditions, obtaining the temporary suspension of his sentence in prison. On several occasions the collaborators of justice have spoken of the godfather of the Cosa Nostra, who have defined him as a great mediator with a flair for attracting politicians and entrepreneurs.

In 2000 it would be operational again: after the 1998 mafia war he tried to put together the pieces of the Enna, Agrigento and Nissena mafia.

Mafia, confiscation of 120 thousand euros in Cattolica Eraclea and Bivona
The Court of Palermo Prevention Measures Section issued a confiscation order of real estate (land and building) in the municipalities of Cattolica Eraclea and Bivona, from Antonino Grimaldi, 53.
Grimaldi was arrested in 2016 in execution of an order to review the precautionary measures issued by the Court of Palermo for 416 bis, in particular for having performed functions of connection between Pietro Campo (belonging to the mafia family of Santa Margherita Belice) and others mafia families of the Agrigento area.

Another facilitator of the super-fledgling Matteo Messina Denaro ended up in prison. This is Gaspare Salvatore Gucciardi , accused of criminal association of a mafia type. He would have been part of the Cosa Nostra Trapani together with other people already convicted or subjected to other criminal proceedings including Matteo Messina Denaro, Vito Gondola and Michele Gucciardi .

The arrest stems from the outcome of the "Pionica" trial which ended last December 23 with the sentence, among others, of Gaspare Salvatore Gucciardi to ten years of imprisonment at the request of the Deputy Prosecutors of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Palermo.

The Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Trapani last night traced the man to his home in Vita, in the province of Trapani. According to the investigators, Gucciardi maintained a constant connection with other mafia "ensuring the transmission of confidential information within the criminal association, communicating with other associates the discovery of equipment intended for investigative activity".

From the investigations it emerged that Gaspare Salvatore Gucciardi had made his premises available, in Chinea, between Trapani and Salemi, to allow confidential meetings. He is also accused of fictitious registration of assets, which were then resold, in order to remove them from the patrimonial prevention measures and whose proceeds were made available to financially subsidize also the inaction of Matteo Messina Denaro.

12 Cosa Nostra arrests near Agrigento, local politicians involved
Town councillor among those netted by 200 cops


https://www.ansa.it/english/news/20...6ae8410-b34e-449a-a9fb-18edefde72b3.html

Rome, bars and pastry shops in the Center run by mafia clans of “Cosa Nostra”: 11 arrests

Operation in Rome: bar e pastry shops in the heart of the historic center managed by mafia clans Palermo. This is what was ascertained by the Carabinieri del Ros in the operation, coordinated by the Dda of Rome, which led to the issuance of a precautionary order against 11 people. In particular, the mafia groups have, over the years, laundered large sums of money in catering to open premises in the area of Testaccio e Trastevere.

https://www.italy24news.com/a/2021/...fia-clans-of-cosa-nostra-11-arrests.html

Paolo Di Mauro, known as 'u prufissuri ', considered by investigators to be the referent of the Ionian area of ​​Etna for the Laudani clan, died of Covid, at the San Marco hospital in Catania.

The boss of Piedimonte Etneo, turned 66 last Friday, was hospitalized in serious condition in intensive care, where he died on Monday evening. For him, the commissioner of Catania, Mario Della Cioppa, has banned public funerals. At the request of the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Catania, the ban on carrying out the funeral rite in the church for reasons of public order was ordered. The body yesterday was transferred from the hospital to the cemetery of Piedimonte Etneo, where the funeral took place in a strictly private form.

The hands of the mafia on packaging, confiscation of 40 million from a member of the Rinzivillo clan


A corporate and real estate assets estimated at 40 million euros were confiscated by soldiers of the Gico of the Economic-Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Catania, in Emanuele 'Elio' Greco, a leading exponent of the Rinzivillo clan, active between Ragusa and Caltanissetta , fruit and vegetable entrepreneur and packaging. The provision was ordered by the Prevention Measures Section of the Catania court. In the past, Greco was definitively convicted of kidnapping, extortion, theft, carrying and possession of weapons.

Mafia boss fed poor during COVID lockdown
16 Cosa Nostra arrests in Palermo

(ANSA) - PALERMO, JAN 26 - A Mafia boss fed the poor in Palermo during the first COVID lockdown between March and May last year, sources said Tuesday after a police operation arrested 16 bosses and protection racketeers in the Sicilian capital.
The boss, Giuseppe Cusimano, was said to have been the "point of reference for the indigent" in the city's working class Zen district, police said.
Police said this was confirmation that Cosa Nostra is still trying to replace the Italian State in providing services and so gain cultural and social acceptance and support.
Cusimano, 37, told ANSA last April that "mine was a charitable action with the Padre Pio Association of the Zen (quarter) and with others in several other quarters, trying to collect for those in need".
Cusiamo, who is married with three children, said his charity work was disinterested and was only aimed at trying "to help people who don't even have a euro to feed themselves with".
Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando said the op was "further proof that Cosa Nostra is exploiting the economic malaise caused by COVID".
Tuesday's operation was the result of a probe which uncovered evidence that the Palermo bosses planned robberies with "war-grade arms", police said.
They also conducted "capillary-like" protection rackets.
Defence Undersecretary Angelo Tofalo said "today's operation is proof that the State is not retreating when faced with the mafia; it is stronger than the bosses".
The 16 people arrested have been charged with mafia association, attempted murder, extortion, damaging property, aggravated threats, and illegal weapons possession.
The op targeted the following three families, police said: Tommaso Natale's, Partanna Mondello's, and ZEN - Pallavicino.
Among those placed under investigation was a historic Cosa Nostra boss, Giulio Caporrimo, who was freed from jail after a long detention in May 2019 and had to reckon with the new clan leadership of Francesco Palumeri.
The probe also revealed that the bosses, in order to avoid telephone intercepts, staged summits in dinghies in Palermo harbour. (ANSA).

Mafia, 23 arrests: the boss Antonio Gallea, the lawyer Angela Porcello (and the shadow of Messina Denaro)
The latest investigation by the Palermo prosecutor reveals the plots of the "provincial mafia"

Tthe lawyer who in January had presented the request to remove the "41 bis" from the boss of the Cosa Nostra from Agrigento, Giuseppe Falsone , rejected by the Supreme Court, and now she finds herself in prison on charges of having "dismissed the toga and worn the clothes of the mafia companion "; hosting and participating in summits in her law firm among "men of honor" who discussed strategies and sought the approval of the super-fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro.

Among those arrested stands the name of Antonio Gallea , a boss of the stidda (the mafia "independent" from Cosa Nostra) of Canicattì, sentenced to life imprisonment for having authorized - from the cell in which he was already locked up - the elimination of the judge Livatino. In 2015, despite the life imprisonment, Gallea obtained the benefit of semi-release from the surveillance court of Naples , being able to leave prison in the morning to return in the evening.

Very interesting operation!
Blow to stidda bosses and Cosa Nostra in Agrigento, Trapani, Palermo and Caltanissetta.
It is now clear that Messina Denaro always has the final say like a boss of bosses, who therefore continues to decide the fate and balance of power of Cosa Nostra!
A scenario that looks at the organization of the Sicilian underworld, with well-known branches also in the rest of Italy and overseas, capable once again of adapting and shaping itself to changing times.
From the United States to Sicily to maintain ties and do business. The historical relations between the Sicilian mafia and American Cosa Nostra have never ceased. A demonstration also comes from today's investigation of the Ros: US emissaries of the Gambino family of New York in recent months would have gone to Favara to speak business with local bosses to be concluded side by side.

"You can get money through credit cards," explained the boss Giancarlo Buggea to Simone Castello, one of the postmen of the boss Bernardo Provenzano who, after serving a sentence for the Mafia, had moved to eastern Sicily, managing some farms. The Americans were also interested in the "port areas, there you can make other speeches, the place that interests you is Catania, because Palermo is already there". What was Buggea referring to? He explained that this type of business would yield 20 percent to the local family. "As soon as he comes we meet him - he still said to Castello - we take him to eat."

In April 2019 "the American", as they called him in the interceptions, made a meeting with some emissaries of the clan, in Castrofilippo. And here is the interesting explanation that Buggea gave to Castello, a sign of the ancient ties between the American and Sicilian mafia: "In New York there are good people from Castrofilippo ... I had to go there in 2005, three years before Totò Di Gioia went there, he went to Dominick Acquisto, who is a Castrofilippese close to the Gambinos, to that Calì they killed ». It was from Castrofilippo - also explained this Buggea - the then head of the mafia province of Agrigento, Giuseppe Settecasi, the only representative of Cosa Nostra Siciliana admitted to participate in the historic meeting which was held on November 14, 1957, in Apalachin, among all the families of America. Really the story of the mafia. And the pressing topicality.

In that conversation, all to be deciphered, another deal peeped out that the Gambinos would have set up, in Kosovo - so Buggea said - this time with the Palermo relatives, the Inzerillos. One name was mentioned in particular, that of Sandro Mannino, the godson of Totuccio Inzerillo, recently arrested by the mobile squad in the blitz that stopped the reorganization of the Inzerillo group in Palermo. Precisely in that investigation there was talk of credit cards arriving in Palermo, with a lot of money to invest. But where? "They have the money," Castello commented. The treasure of the old mafia, never seized.

Hey Hollander!! Can you post the link to th his article please? Would greatly appreciate it...

Here you go Cabrini

https://palermo.repubblica.it/crona...ario_dei_gambino_ad_agrigento-285719295/

He had committed a theft without asking the Cosa Nostra for "permission" and so he was forced to kneel down and apologize and beg for mercy, for himself, his wife and children.

The man, as reported by Gerlando Cardinale in an article in the Giornale di Sicilia on newsstands, had stolen from a bar in Canicattì, in which the boss Calogero Di Caro probably had an occult role. The story dates back to last summer and the scene is immortalized by cameras and hidden bugs. "I have a wife and two children to raise since I didn't even ... I didn't even know that was your bar ...". So the offender, in the presence of the boss who pursues him wearing the mask, forces him to kneel.

Nicolò Clemente , 53, a building contractor from Castelvetrano, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, for mafia association , by the Court of Marsala. The judges excluded the aggravating circumstance of the "managerial role" within the Cosa Nostra, but for the entrepreneur they also ordered three years of probation when he comes out of prison and the confiscation of assets, companies and current accounts.

In July 2018, Nicolò Clemente was arrested by the men of the anti-mafia investigation department of Trapani. At that time, two construction companies "attributable" to him (La Calcestruzzi Castelvetrano srl and Clemente Costruzioni srl) were also subjected to preventive seizure and several searches were carried out on alleged mafia members of Castelvetrano. The operation was part of the activities aimed at hitting the mafia "close" to the super-fledgling Matteo Messina Denaro.

A work, it was underlined in the press release of the Dia, also conducted "through the identification and elimination from the market of the mafia companies that constitute the main sources of financial supply of the castelvetranese mafia organization". The investigations that resulted in the arrest of Clemente and the seizure of the two companies resulted from the statements made by the deceased collaborator of justice Lorenzo Cimarosa, cousin in law of Matteo Messina Denaro, and to a lesser extent also by the entrepreneur Giuseppe Grigoli, both definitively convicted in what are believed to belong to the mafia family of Castelvetrano.