The eleven people reached today by the precautionary measures issued by the investigating judge of the Rome court at the request of the local DDA are said to have beaten, kidnapped and exerted serious repercussions on delinquent drug buyers. For various reasons they are accused of crimes of robbery, extortion, kidnapping for the purpose of extortion, money laundering and drug dealing. The measures were carried out yesterday morning by the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit of the Provincial Command of Rome and the agents of the State Police of the first Trevi Campo Marzio district in the provinces of Viterbo, Rome and Frosinone. The investigation started in October 2022 from the complaints of a drug user, who had accrued a debt with his drug dealers that he was no longer able to honor, generating their violent reactions.
The investigation, which lasted over a year, made it possible to collect serious indications of guilt regarding the existence of a criminal group, operating in the Roman district of Cinecittà, of which the suspects were part and to document how they used to carry out violent retaliation against defaulting drug buyers. In some cases, the victims were allegedly transported to the homes of some associates where they were beaten and threatened with a gun pointed at their heads in order to force them to make payments, including through bank transfers. Sometimes, because the daily “ceiling” at the bank had been exhausted, they were seized and beaten all night long, waiting to be able to make other transfers the following morning. In cases where they were unable to obtain the requested money, the threats were also extended to the families of the unfortunate people. The analysis of the flow of extorted money (over 300 thousand euros) made it possible to identify all the beneficiaries of the bank transfers as subjects believed to be close to the most authoritative exponent of the criminal group.
