A new arrest in the investigation «Internal code», the investigation by the DDA and the Bari Flying Squad which, last February 26, led to the arrest of 130 people, revealing the alleged links between the mafia, politics and city business. He ended up in prison Angelo Falco, 62 years old, considered a prominent member of the Parisi clan and with judicial precedents for mafia-style criminal association, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms. Falco is known as «the king of robberies» and his figure is linked to that of Giacomo Olivierilawyer and former regional councilor in prison for two months on charges of mafia political electoral exchange and extortion: according to the investigators, he would have favored, thanks to the help of the underworld, the election of his wife Maria Carmen Lorusso at the Bari city council in 2019. The votes would have been bought by Olivieri, for 10 thousand euros, from the Parisi, Strisciuglio and Montani clans of Bari.
The meeting between Falco and Olivieri
During the investigation, the investigators in fact gathered a meeting in Falco’s house between the latter (who was under house arrest), Olivieri, an engineer and a small businessman believed to be “very close to the Falco family”. During the meeting Olivieri proposed to Falco «clearly illicit and fraudulent financial investments»: thanks to the help of the 62-year-old, in fact, Olivieri would have liked to buy a historic Bari company – specialized in exhibition stands – in order to obtain bank loans and public funds (both state and regional) which he would then pocket. A «deceptive and illicit» operation, the investigators write again, which Olivieri intended to carry out through «a plot full of deceptions» to «personal and fraudulent purposes».
Falco’s “criminal pedigree”.
The investigators consider Falco to be “a person of considerable criminal caliber, constantly engaged in establishing criminal relationships, despite the fact that he was serving a sentence under house arrest”. Falco’s “criminal pedigree”, writes the DDA, is such that “he is considered by all as a mafia reference in the San Paolo district of Bari”. The 62-year-old, the investigators note, “can count on the contribution of numerous subjects belonging to that ‘grey area’ which allow him to receive useful information, preparatory to criminal affairs”. Among these also a policeman and a financier, as well as “local administrators and professionals”. But Falco is also considered the man who until 2021 allowed a historic pact between the Strisciuglio clan and Giovanni Palermiti, “despite the ongoing period of fibrillation between the two mafia cliques, aimed at the exchange of large quantities of cocaine”. «In short, it’s about a mafioso of such a high level that he is considered the only valid mediator of the two mafia factions that have always been opposed».
