From the first light of dawn, on the delegation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rome, the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Rome, in the province of Naples, supported by the territorially competent commands of the Carabinieri, implemented an order which provides for precautionary measures, issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Rome, against 17 people (7 in prison and 10 under house arrest)of which 13 are seriously suspected of belonging to a criminal association (art. 416 of the criminal code) dedicated to “scams” and “extortion” against the elderly and the other 4 of having played a role in carrying out the attacks.
As a confirmation, during the investigation, the Carabinieri also carried out 10 arrests, in flagrante delicto, for scams committed in Rome against the elderly, with the simultaneous recovery and return of the stolen goods.
The investigations of the Carabinieri of the Operational Unit of the Compagnia di Roma Trionfale, under the direction of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rome, group rserious injuries against the heritage and narcotics, have made it possible to collect serious circumstantial elements regarding the existence of a criminal association based in Naples and headed by members of a specific family, dedicated to the commission of an indeterminate series of crimes (mostly scams and sometimes extortion) against elderly people living in Rome and Lazio, but also in other Italian regions, gathering serious indications of guilt against the suspects in relation to 80 episodes committed in the provinces of Rome, Naples, Latina and Viterbo, in time frame between 13.09.2022 and 20.03.2023.
Posing as a postal worker, insurer, lawyer or policeman, the “telephone operator” said that a family member had to pay off the debt to collect a package or that he had caused a road accident, that the insurance had expired and that, to “settle” things , it was necessary to hand over money or jewelry. An accomplice would later pick them up from the victims’ homes, and only hours later, speaking with the son or grandson in question, would they discover the scam.
The investigations by the Carabinieri of the Operational Unit of the Compagnia di Roma Trionfale made it possible to collect circumstantial elements regarding the role of all the suspects who, in various groups made up of two people, left Naples every day in rented cars. The victims were chosen randomly through searches done on the internet or on the white pages, contacted by “telephone operators” and then reached by “couriers”.
During the searches, which are still ongoing, the Carabinieri also found an instruction manual with a detailed description of the things that the telephone operator had to say to the victims to carry out the scams as well as cash, hundreds of telephone cards, dozens of mobile phones and a large quantity of jewels.
