The policemen of the Agrigento flying squad have carried out five precautionary custody orders as part of an investigation into the Santa Margherita Belice mafia family. The provision was notified in prison to the boss Pietro Campo, 72 years old, believed to be a loyalist of Matteo Messina Denaro whom he met in recent years while on the run. Giovanni Campo, 33, also ended up in prison; Piero Guzzardo, 45 years old and Pasquale Ciaccio, 58 years old, also already convicted in the past for mafia. Domenico Bavetta, 42, was placed under house arrest. The investigation also hypothesizes a mafia extortion ring.
The blitz by the state police, delegated by the Palermo district anti-mafia directorate, involved 5 people, two of whom had already been definitively convicted of mafia association, accused of extortion and illicit competition with threats or violence, aggravated by the mafia method and of having facilitated the mafia association called Cosa Nostra. The investigations, conducted by the SCO, by Sisco of Palermo and by the Flying Squads of Agrigento and Palermo have made it possible to hypothesize the pervasive control and illicit management of agro-pastoral activities in the Girgento area of Santa Margherita del Belice, Montevago and Sambuca di Sicilia up to the border with Contessa Entellina (Palermo). The suspects, making use of the “undisputed intimidating force”, explain the investigators, “deriving from being recognized as top exponents” of the mafia district of Santa Margherita di Belice, would have implemented an “incisive control” on the agro-pastoral economy of the area as well as on the related use of agricultural land in the Belicino hinterland. In particular, several episodes were recorded in which the suspects, using the mafia method, forced the owners and managers of agricultural land to cede the availability of large areas of land to be used for illegal grazing of livestock, imposing the payment of fees negligible amounts which, in some cases, would not even have been paid.
The control of agricultural land would have resulted, in some cases, also in a ban on carrying out collateral agricultural activities that would alter the free grazing of flocks, thus effectively imposing a stringent predominance over other people’s real estate, also functional to the maximization of profits. resulting from dairy production. In this context, the absence of explicit threats was also sometimes recorded, with the suspects being able to impose their will by resorting to silent intimidating attitudes, which was echoed by the ability to subjugate deriving from their recognized criminal role as well as the multiple episodes of damage (fire, cutting of crops and theft of livestock) suffered over the years by the owners who had instead decided to use the land for crops that would have limited the grazing of the flocks. In this context of rural crime, the investigations also made use of the declarations of some victims who opposed the “control system” of the sector, also highlighting certain episodes in which, following the threshing carried out by the owners , the foodstuffs would have been unduly acquired and packaged by the suspects, without paying any compensation. The depth of the subjects involved in the investigations has also highlighted moments of internal tension linked to the attempt to alter the balance of the “cartel” itself; conflicts always resolved in a logic of convenience and mutual protection of the territorial control mechanisms.
Mafia: Agrigento arrests, the long hands of the clans on the land =
“Pervasive control” and “illicit management of agro-pastoral activities” in the Girgento area of Santa Margherita del Belice, Montevago and Sambuca di Sicilia up to the border with Contessa Entellina (Palermo). This is what was ascertained by the operation conducted by the state police in the province of Agrigento, with the arrest of five people, who were placed in precautionary custody in prison. The suspects, the investigators explain, making use of the “undisputed intimidating force”, the investigators explain, “deriving from being recognized as top exponents” of the mafia district of Santa Margherita di Belice, would have implemented an “incisive control” on the agricultural economy – pastoral care of the area as well as on the related use of agricultural land in the Belicino hinterland.
Mafia: Agrigento arrests, blitz thanks to rebellion victims =
The investigations which culminated today in the arrest of five mafiosi in the province of Agrigento by the state police, also made use of the contribution of some victims who “opposed” the “control system” of the agro-pastoral sector. Episodes have also come to light in which, following the threshing carried out by the owners, the foodstuffs were illicitly acquired and packaged by the suspects, without paying any compensation.
