Operation “Caudium”, the Supreme Court ruled on the appeal of one of the men affiliated to the Pagnozzi clan
Paolo Pagnozzi, according to the investigators, scion of the clan of the same name and heir of the deceased boss Gennaro and brother of Domenico, remains in prison. This was decided by the judges of the IV Criminal Section of the Court of Cassation who rejected the appeal against the decision of the Court of Review of Naples proposed by criminal lawyers Dario Vannetiello and Alfedo Gaito, as the deputy prosecutor had also requested (the rejection of the appeal). general.
The legal matter is linked to the Caudium operation carried out by the Carabinieri last December in the provinces of Benevento, Avellino, Rome, Padua and Campobassoderiving from a provision issued by the Judge for preliminary investigations of the Court of Naples at the request of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Naples.
The recipients of the precautionary measures (12 precautionary custody in prison, 9 precautionary custody under house arrest and 2 obligations to stay in the municipality of residence) are seriously suspected, in various capacities, of the crimes of attempted extortion, association aimed at the illicit trafficking of narcotic substances and possession and dealing of narcotic substances, with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method and the aim of facilitating the Camorra association of the Pagnozzi clan, operating in Valle Caudina and neighboring territories.
The provision followed a detailed investigation, coordinated and directed by the DDA of Naples, conducted by the Investigative Unit of the Carabinieri of Benevento, which began following the complaint filed on 9 July 2021 by the administrator of a Benevento construction company engaged in the works of construction of an arterial road, contracted by the municipality of Castelpoto for a value of over 2 million euros.
On this occasion, the entrepreneur had reported to the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Benevento that the previous day, at his construction site, two men had shown up in a car. One of them, keeping his right hand constantly inside the pocket of the bag he carried over his shoulder, giving the impression of holding a gun, after getting out of the car, had turned to the workers present, ordering them to immediately abandon their otherwise he would have “shot everyone”, as “they had to sort things out with the Caudina Valley”, an explicit reference to the criminal groups operating in this territorial area.
As a result of a complex investigation, signed by the deputy prosecutors of the DDA, Simona Belluccio and Francesco Raffaele (current Deputy Prosecutor of Avellino) and also conducted through “electronic stalking”, the authors of the extortion attempt were identified as two members of the Pagnozzi clan, arrested in prison. Furthermore, the subsequent search activities delegated by the Judicial Authority had allowed the military to find and seize, from a suspect, the same clothes with which he had gone to the construction site.
The attempted extortion took place in July 2021 when Nino Piacentile and Mario De Paola went to the headquarters of the company that was building the road connection in Castelpoto.
The continuation of the investigative activity had made it possible to collect significant evidential elements regarding the existence of a criminal association that managed an intense trafficking of narcotic substances (cocaine and hashish) between Aprilia and the Roman coast (Anzio and Pomezia), where a large part of the narcotic, and the provinces of Benevento and Avellino, where the association operated under the aegis of the clan.
The investigations had made it possible to identify the managers of the “drug dealers” in San Martino Valle Caudina and in the Tufara Valle area of Benevento, as well as identify a dense network of “couriers” and “pushers” and locate one of the drug storage locations in Aprila, at the home of one of the arrested people. Inside the building the suspects cut and vacuum-packed the narcotic, who was then transported to the Caudina Valley, where the suspects often met at the headquarters of a company in Tufara Valle, of which some of the arrested were members. In one of the drug trafficking episodes, the purchase of a batch of narcotic substances in Avezzano, then detained in Aprilia, at 33 euros per gram was confirmed. One of the hideouts that according to investigators was used by Erminio Pagnozzi to transport drugs from Aprilia to Tufara Valle was also the heating system of his SUV.
To finance the criminal association, there was a prominent element of the clan, who, thanks to his criminal power in the area, authorized the suspects to freely deal in his territory of competence, in some cases also supporting them economically and providing, in a occasion, the car for transporting drugs.
During the investigation, 5 men were also arrested in flagrante delicto, as well as approximately 1.5 kilos of cocaine, 5 kilos of hashish, an illegally possessed clandestine pistol and 23 cartridges seized.
The investigating judge had authorized prison for 12 people: Alessandro Cavuoto, 76 years old from Tufara Valle, Paolo Pagnozzi, 63 years old from San Martino Valle Caudina, as well as Aniello De Paola, 46 years old, Eugenio De Paola, 33 years old, Mario De Paola, 33 years old and Nino Piacentile, 54 years old.
Also in prison are Vincenzo Lomasto, 30 years old, from Pomezia, Giuseppe Magliocca, 53 years old, from Roccabascerana (Avellino), Giergy Nika, 31 years old, from Pomezia, Erminio Pagnozzi, 60 years old, resident in Ceppaloni but domiciled in Aprilia, Andrea Salsiccia, 50 years old, from Pomezia, Giulia Sopranzi, 39 years old, from Anzio. Furthermore, Erminio Pagnozzi was also involved in 2016 in a ring of stolen trucks that were hidden in a warehouse between Aprilia and Anzio. The case was brought to light by an investigation by the Aprilia Traffic Police.
Under house arrest Carmine Capozza, 53 years old, from San Giorgio del Sannio, Raffaele Corda, 51 years old, domiciled in Pomezia, Aniello De Paola, 33 years old, from San Martino Valle Caudina, Francesco Magliocca, 25 years old, from Roccabascerana, Giuseppe Magliocca, 36 years old, from Roccabascerana, Emanuele Marigliano, 39 years old, from Naples, Laura Radut, 37 years old, from Roccabascerana, Paolo Russo, 54 years old, from Ardea, Palmerino Venoso, 48 years old, from Roccabascerana.
