Usury, extortion and drug dealing. The suspects allegedly applied usurious rates of up to 240% per year. Precautionary custody also for two other people detained for other reasons
This morning, in execution of a precautionary order issued by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations of the Court of Torre Annunziata, at the request of this Public Prosecutor’s Office, the agents of the State Police of the PS Commissariat of Torre del Greco, assisted by the Flying Squad of the Naples Police Headquarters, from the PS Commissariat of Torre Annunziata, from the Campania Crime Prevention Department and from canine units, proceeded with the arrest of 5 people, of which 3 were subject to the precautionary custody measure in prison and 2 to the arrest measure home.
They also carried out a precautionary detention order in prison against 2 other people already detained in prison for other reasons and notified the precautionary measure of the obligation to report to the Judicial Police on 2 other people.
The suspects are all seriously suspected, in various capacities, of crimes of usury, extortion and drug dealing.
The investigations, coordinated by this Public Prosecutor’s Office and conducted by the Investigation Team of the PS Commissariat of Torre del Greco, started from the declarations of a person who was a victim of usury. The investigative activities made it possible to ascertain several episodes of usury committed to the detriment of the victim by a number of individuals.
Each of them operates independently of the others, to which the offended person had turned starting from 2023 in an attempt to deal with his economic difficulties.
The investigative findings, also corroborated by telephone interceptions and objective evidence acquired through targeted surveillance, made it possible to ascertain how the victim, in a moment of economic difficulty, had found the apparent availability of acquaintances. They initially offered to lend her money and then demanded the monthly repayment of sums of money that were disproportionate to the initial debt. They would have applied high usurious rates which in some cases reached the threshold of 240% per year.
During the investigations, it emerged that some of the suspects, involved in the crime scene operating in the municipality of Torre Annunziata, although they were in prison at the time of the events, had agreed to supply narcotic substances such as cocaine to the drug dealing centers of the Salerno.
During the investigations, the Judicial Police found the results of the technical activities, proceeding with the seizure of cocaine and the arrest of a person appointed as its courier.
The measures carried out are precautionary measures issued during preliminary investigations. There are possible appeals against them. The recipients are people under investigation and therefore presumed innocent until a final conviction.
