The role of the “dauphin of the house” of the “Duke” was renewed by the mayor of Reggio Giuseppe Falcomatà (Pd), just two weeks before it was shot the “Ducale” operation of the Ros and the DDA of Reggio Calabria, causing a new political earthquake. Daniel Barillàson-in-law of Domenico Araniti known as the “Duke” indicated by the investigators as the boss of Sambatello and head of the ‘ndrangheta clan of the same name, he would be the bearer of votes who pushed the mayor Falcomatà to triumph, and was reconfirmed last 16 April by the mayor himself, as a member of the independent evaluation body (Oiv) of the Municipality, which is responsible for evaluating the performance of local authority managers. The first appointment dates back to 21 December 2020, also signed by Falcomatà.
The assignment at the Oiv – “Danielino”, as he is called in the wiretaps, ended up under house arrest because he allegedly directed the “strategy of electoral fraud on behalf of the ‘ndrina”, in the 2020 electoral rounds, when the vote was taken for the regional and municipal elections of Reggio, and the the following year, in which we returned to the polls after the premature death of governor Jole Santelli. A well-studied plan, with the “choice of multiple candidates to support” to “bet on the winning horse”. Barilla he would have played on multiple fronts, and for this reason “wooed”, in turn receiving several offers, because he was “capable of stirring electoral consensus”.
Among these is the “prestigious position of administrator/liquidator of Leonia Spa”, owned by the Municipality and proposed by the dem city councilor Francesco Sera (Pd), came under investigation. However, the offer is “incompatible” with the nomination of 21 December 2020 signed by Falcomatà for the Oiv. An assignment, we read in the resolution, with a duration of 3 years, renewable only once, and a “gross remuneration” of 1,239.39 per month. A task that prescribes “correctness” and “impartiality”, in addition to monitoring the “overall functioning of the evaluation system, transparency and integrity and internal controls”, formulating “proposals and recommendations to the administrative top management”, and “promptly communicating any critical issues identified to the competent political-administrative bodies of the Institution”. All characteristics that mayor Falcomatà had probably found in Barillà.
“They vote for my friend” – The scheme used by Barillà for the elections is simple, as he himself explains to the “colleague Elisabetta Cattini”, “president of the OIV”, to whom “he confided his modus operandi”. “Shall we get together, me, him, some others and say what do we do?” Barillà tells her. For the investigating judge, it is “the clear reference to the next regional elections”. “This year my line will be like this. Some vote for Mimmo, my friend, because he is from the PD. And the other one votes for Brothers of Italy, the other one my friend, we divide them”, adds Barillà. According to “Danielino’s” reasoning, adds the investigating judge, he could guarantee “their ability to catalyze consensus, given that” his group was known in the city.
Acts in the anti-mafia commission – As has already happened in the cases of Bari, Turin, Palermo and Genoa, the parliamentary anti-mafia commission, chaired by Chiara Colosimoasked for the documents of the investigation Ros and the DDA of Reggio Calabria on the alleged electoral conditioning in the regional and municipal councils of Reggio Emilia. The commission had already planned a visit to Calabria.
