BARI – The investigating judge of the Bari court Giuseppe Battista has sentenced nine people, believed to belong to the Strisciuglio clan, to sentences ranging from 20 years to 3 years and 4 months in prison for extortion aggravated by the mafia method against the owner of a body shop in the Palese neighborhood.
The highest sentences – in continuation with previous sentences – were inflicted on Saverio Faccilongo (believed to be among the leaders of the clan), Giuseppe Caizzi and Giovanni Sgaramella, sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Pietro Mercoledisanto was sentenced to 6 years and 4 months in prison, while Giovanni Tritto and Vito Antonio Catacchio (the latter found guilty only for some episodes of extortion, while he was acquitted for others) to 6 years.
Tommaso Peschetola received a prison sentence of 5 years, Raffaele Stella and Antonio Tortora 3 years and 4 months.
Over the years, the defendants allegedly forced the owner to “carry out bodywork on their cars without paying him”, as well as forcing him to “hand over various sums of money”, ranging from three thousand to five thousand euros. Money which, writes the Prosecutor’s Office, would have been used as a “thought for their detained leader”, Saverio Faccilongo, and to support the legal expenses of other members of the clan in prison.
The defendants were also charged with the aggravating circumstance of mafia assistance to the Strisciuglio clan.
