Marsala, drug dealing in Sappusi. The trial for eleven has begun

With a defense objection (the one “by matter” raised by the lawyer Nicola Gaudino for his client) the trial of eleven alleged drug dealers involved was started before the Court of Marsala (president of the college Vito Marcello Saladino), the February 17, 2023, in the “Virgilio” carabinieri operation, which dismantled three criminal groups, led by women, who allegedly operated in competition with each other.

The precautionary order of the investigating judge of the Court of Marsala concerned 14 people (11 in prison), accused, for various reasons, of trafficking and dealing of narcotic substances (crack, heroin and cocaine), extortion, money laundering, personal injury and even an attempted kidnapping for debt collection from a buyer who did not pay for the doses purchased.

The investigations revealed that in the popular Sappusi neighbourhood, and in particular in via Virgilio, there was the main “drug-dealing square” of Marsala. According to investigators, a young woman who died of an overdose in October 2021 (which was followed by the suicide of her partner) also purchased supplies in Sappusi in the past.

TP24 carried out an investigation into the drug dealing in Sappusi. Here is the first episode.

Here is the second episode

Here is the third episode

Here is the fourth episode

Here is the fifth episode

The prison was ordered for the Marsala residents Arianna Torre, aged 44, already detained for another reason, Giovanni Parrinello, aged 42, also already detained (for the murder of another criminal, Antonino Titone), Pietro Lombardo, aged 32, Alessia Angileri, 32, Alessio Cristopher Pantaleo, 35, Andrea Nizza, 36, also already detained for another cause (robberies committed together with Giovanni Parrinello), Massimo Licari, 49, Gisella Angileri, 38, and Vito Alessio Allegra, 22, and the Palermitans Giuseppe Caruso, 35, and Antonino La Mattina, 33. The residence ban in the municipality of Marsala was, however, imposed on Jessica Torre, 36 years old, and Marilena Lungaro, 33. Obligation finally, of residence in Marsala for Antonino Davide Di Girolamo, aged 43. Some, like the Angileri sisters, already with drug convictions, have already been tried and sentenced in summary terms or with plea bargains. In the trial started yesterday, however, Marilena Lungaro, Michele Adorno, Giovanni Parrinello, Jessica Torre, Pietro Lombardo, Antonino Davide Di Girolamo, Anna Maria Di Girolamo, Sergio Sangiorgio, Leonardo Titone, Valentina Galfano and Gianluca Dardo are accused. In June 2018, the latter was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison, with a plea bargain, following an arrest in an anti-drug operation conducted by the police at the end of April 2017. Gianluca Dardo (son of the well-known criminal, again for drug crimes, Gaspare Dardo) was the gup Riccardo Alcamo. The defense lawyer Diego Tranchida managed, however, to have the disputed fact classified as “minor”. Among the defenders in the trial started yesterday are the lawyers Diego and Pasquale Massimiliano Tranchida, Giacomo Frazzitta, Nicola Gaudino, Piergiorgio Giacalone, Duilio Piccione. Last year, around 50 thousand euros in cash were also seized in the Carabinieri raid, believed to be proceeds from drug dealing activity. Furthermore, in some homes, the police deactivated the cameras illegally installed by some suspects to check for the possible arrival of law enforcement officers. Ten of the suspects turned out to be recipients of citizenship income (five of them had already had it revoked as they no longer met the requirements). The drug dealing activity was monitored for a long time by the Carabinieri with a series of cameras placed in the Via Virgilio area and through telephone interceptions. And the often cryptic language used by the alleged drug dealers was of no avail. A key moment, from which the investigations started, was the death by overdose, in October 2021, of a woman (DRB, born in ’76, already convicted of drug dealing), found lifeless by the police inside a car in the neighborhood Amabilina.