On the morning of May 6, the State Police executed the precautionary custody order in prison, issued by the investigating judge at the Court of Modena, at the request of this Public Prosecutor’s Office, against two Italian citizens aged 50 and 58 years, and house arrest for another 61-year-old Italian citizen, seriously suspected respectively and distinctly of the crimes of extortion and usury; crimes of labor exploitation and fraudulent declaration through the use of invoices or other documents for non-existent transactions; of the crimes of money laundering and use of money, goods or benefits of illicit origin.
The investigative activity of the Flying Squad began in 2019 following a completely random check by personnel of the Modena Traffic Police Section of a car, found to be the result of theft, with a counterfeit chassis and false license plate. The investigations made it possible to bring to light three distinct criminal activities: an activity of laundering stolen vehicles and related counterfeiting of documentation and distinctive signs exported abroad carried out by the 61-year-old Italian citizen; a series of acts of usury and extortion by the 50-year-old and a complex network of tax frauds by the third 58-year-old suspect.
The agents ascertained that the 61-year-old, in order to purchase three cars of furtive origin, had turned to an acquaintance, the 50-year-old, who had given him a loan of 40 thousand euros in cash, in exchange for the repayment, demanded and obtained through threats extortionate, of 52,500 euros, with a usurious rate of 30% in just 8 months.
As regards the position of the third suspect, an entrepreneur who operates in the Modena area, during the investigative activity it emerged that the man managed three separate companies that had a labor contracting relationship with a company, with which managed to agree on the repayment of part of the amounts of the invoices issued for over-invoicing aimed at evading taxes or at the reuse of fictitious tax documents accounted for. The suspect was also responsible for labor exploitation behavior towards the employees of one of his companies both in relation to the remuneration that did not comply with the CCNL (7 euros per hour compared to 10.47 euros) and in relation to permits and unpaid holidays, as well as for the violation of the working hours of the staff, who were formally classified as part-time, but in fact provided full-time work in addition to overtime.
Staff from the Modena and Reggio Emilia Traffic Police Section also lent support to the executive operations. The two recipients of the precautionary measure in prison were associated at the prison in Reggio Emilia.
