Personal precautionary measures against twenty-six suspects held responsible, in various capacities, for association aimed at drug trafficking, aggravated by the mafia method, and drug dealing
The State Policein particular the Flying Squad of Palermo, delegated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Palermo – District Anti-Mafia Directorate – executed the order with which the Judge for Preliminary Investigations ordered the application of personal precautionary measures against twenty-six suspects considered responsible, in various capacities, for association aimed at drug trafficking, aggravated by the mafia method, and drug dealing.
In particular, twenty-one of them were placed in prison, while the other five were placed under house arrest.
The operation represents the result of a complex investigative activity coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate and conducted by the Palermo Flying Squad and the Central Operations Servicewhich made it possible to trace the supply chain vertically from the sale of cocaine and hashish in the Sperone district of Brancaccio, historically considered a waterproof fort for the Police Force.
Therefore, in order to penetrate and dismantle the criminal structure, undercover agents were also employed, who infiltrated the associative plots, also establishing direct contacts with the top exponents of the criminal group.
The investigation made it possible to gather serious indications of guilt regarding the way in which drug trafficking is managed by the criminal group and, above all, the ramifications of Cosa Nostra’s interests in the distribution of earnings from the illicit activity.
During the investigation it was documented that the sale of the narcotic occurs continuously over a 24-hour period, with a rigid organization of shifts of pushers and lookouts.
The executive phases of the operation saw the contribution of the Special Departments, numerous crews of the Crime Prevention Department, the Dog Units as well as the Flight Department.
During the police operation, numerous searches were carried out inside the Sperone against other suspects who emerged in various capacities in the investigation.
Today’s recipients of the restrictive measure are, at present, under suspicion in relation to the contested crimes and their position will be definitive only after the issuing of a possible final sentence, in compliance with the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence.
