FOGGIA – The builder under extortion: “I met with Massimo Sireno at the end of October 2023. I asked him why he was insistently looking for me, he said he wanted 20 thousand euros. I sent him to hell, he replied threateningly: ‘if you don’t give me the money I asked for, I’ll shoot you.’ The entrepreneur’s father: “Sireno without hesitation made the extortion request to my son with these exact words: ‘you have to give me that money’. My son replied that he didn’t have any money left over from us; Sireno told him: ‘you’re going to end up badly, you won’t make it to Monday because I’ll kill you’. My son then made me understand that he was taking some kind of bribe, but he didn’t tell me why Sireno demanded it.” The victim’s brother: “Sireno told me to suggest to my brother not to be presumptuous; to be good; to indulge him; that he knew the work that our company carried out for the various institutions; that he would give us trouble. He insinuated that we had illicit relationships with the contracting authorities where we had won the tenders, and that was why he expected us to agree to his requests, otherwise we would be in trouble.”
The complaints and testimonies of the building contractor from the Daunian Subappennino and his family are the main elements that on 6 June led to house arrest with an electronic bracelet Massimo Sireno, 63 years old, from Foggia, owner of a sole proprietorship, accused of complicity in attempted extortion from the manufacturer. Alleged accomplice Francesco Melchiorre, 72 years old, a pensioner also placed under house arrest because two days after the alleged threats made by Sireno to the entrepreneur, he advised the latter “to sort out the situation with Massimo: give him a hand, he needs it”. The two people from Foggia defended by the lawyers. Pier Giorgio Damato and Giulio Scapato deny the accusations. They were arrested by the Guardia di Finanza following orders from investigating judge Francesca Mannini requested by prosecutor Roberto Galli. According to what was written by the Fiamme Gialle in a press note, the 20 thousand euros requested by Sireno had to be “an electoral contribution for the electoral campaign of the suspect who was a candidate for the position of municipal councilor in the elections in Foggia last October, an electoral round from which he was excluded because he was declared ineligible.”
In mid-December, the building contractor reported the extortion requests to the Lucera Tenenza of the Gdf. This is how he described the meeting with Sireno at the end of October in a service area near Lucera. “I contacted Sireno through Melchiorre, giving him an appointment at the petrol station” the story of the offended party “I preferred to do this because I was afraid that Sireno would come looking for me outside the house; I feared for the safety of my family. I went to the appointment with my father, Sireno showed up alone: the meeting lasted very little. I was angry because he had called me in the previous days, but I had blocked the number. When I asked him why he was insistently looking for me, he said that he wanted 20 thousand euros from me. I immediately sent him to hell, he replied threateningly: ‘if you don’t give me the money I asked for I’ll shoot you’. Intimidated by the death threats and having no reason to give him the money he asked for, my father and I left. As I said goodbye, I remember saying these exact words to Sireno: ‘see, I’ve recorded you’”. Two days later the builder received a visit from Melchiorre at the company headquarters who advised him “to sort out the situation with Massimo; give him a hand, he needs it”.
“What was declared by the offended party” writes investigating judge Mannini in the precautionary order “has found full and significant confirmation in the statements made by witnesses”. Then there is the data that emerged from the cell phone records of Sireno and the offended party: the cell phones of the suspect and the victim on 28 October 2023, the day of the meeting with the alleged request for a bribe followed by death threats, connected cell phones compatible with the location of the appointment. “In essence, the elements obtained from the analysis of telephone records corroborate the truthfulness of what was reported in detail by the offended party”.
