The ‘Ndrangheta’s control over territory, votes and seats, the policy that builds electoral bases thanks to exchanges and agreements with people closely linked to the Reggio underworld. This is the disconcerting picture that emerges from Operation Ducale, the investigation conducted by the Carabinieri del Ros of Reggio Calabria regarding alleged fraud that occurred in the 2020 and 2021 elections for the renewal of the municipal council on the banks of the Strait and for the regional council of Calabria.
Among those under investigation, in addition to the mayor Giuseppe Falcomatàthe candidate for the Democratic Party in Reggio Giuseppe Sera and the candidate for the Region Giuseppe Neri of Brothers of Italy. The latter would receive the votes ‘driven’ by the club Daniel Barillàson-in-law of the boss Domenico Araniti and recognized representative, according to the investigators, of the gang’s control and relations system Aranites with the world of Reggio politics.
Sambatello’s votes for Giuseppe Neri
Barilla in fact, as can be seen from the order of the operation Ducal,
“maintained relations with representatives of institutions and politics and collected votes during electoral consultations in favor of the candidates supported by the association”.
And Sambatello’s votes were tempting for the candidate Brothers of Italy, Joseph Blacksalready in the eye of the storm in 2019 for a journalistic article that reported contacts and links between the FdI exponent and the gang Aranites.
Despite the media spotlight, Neri considers the package of votes too important and the pact with the Barilla indispensable, as can be understood from some interceptions which testify to the agreements signed with a peremptory “..it is already closed with Daniel”.:
LD: Listen, and then you went to… to Sambatello..
GN: and… yes, yes, yes with all the friends of DanielEverything is fine…
LD: eh you see these are important. These no longer vote in Battaglia..
GN: of course…no, look, I’m telling you with my eyes closed, a thousand votes “this way I fall”, but so between Reggio and the province. But precisely because I know them…”
The threats to Coldiretti RC
And according to the prosecutors, the Sambatello boys would have immediately gone to work, as can be seen from the Coldiretti RC affair reconstructed in the proceedings “Eyphemos“. The investigations had brought the investigators to the attention of the threats suffered by the president of Coldiretti RC, Stephen Bivone‘guilty’ of supporting Domenico Creazzo (acquitted in the Eyphemos trial), opponent of Blacks.
According to the investigators’ reconstructions Antonino Creazzo discussing with the Blacks made him aware of the threatening attitudes of his supporters towards those of the Brother Mimmo.
Antonino Creazzo: they went to a villager of yours and to a villager of mine, one from Catona and another from Sambatello..
Giuseppe Neri: ah, then the one from Sambatello. that’s going around for you… that’s fine, he went to my parents, he did the thing, you see it’s the other way around, is that clear Nino? Let’s not do things that lead us to argue with your brother, who we have always loved each other..
The tone of the conversation rises and the two interlocutors in a second conversation return to the issue of threats:
Antonino Creazzo: ..of what I’m telling you, I’ll tell you the name and surname Peppe, that is, your parents went to Bagnara to offend me…
Giuseppe Neri: Mine!! I don’t even know who votes for me in Bagnara to tell you..
Antonino Creazzo: one of yours even went to a friend of mine and told him “I want the votes marked…”
Section 88 of Sambatello
According to investigators Blacks he was also elected thanks to the extraordinary result obtained in Section 88 of Sambatello where the gang Aranitesthrough Barillà and his group, had exercised his greatest influence, overturning the electoral result of the previous elections in 2014, precisely to the advantage of the other supported candidate, Domenico Battaglia.
Below is the comparison between the results of Section 88 in the two electoral rounds:
According to the ROS ordinance, even before the official counting of the votes received in Sambatello, the Barillà is quick to claim his merits with Neri in the exponential growth of preferences. In the conversation between the two, which took place the same day as the elections, Barillà maintained that:
“On Gallico… I could choose if Let you kiss my ass from here for another five years…between San Giovanni, Sambatello and Diminniti two hundred votes” finally reaching the point of stating “I am sure of my job”.
Ducale, the precious help of Martina Giustra
For the PMs, Daniel Barillà had shown a strong interest in the composition of the seat of the Section 88engaging in a frantic search to obtain the electoral cards of those who were certain would not go to vote.
And among the scrutineers according to the investigations the Barilla would have found the collaboration of the most faithful Martina Giustra, who, intercepted by the investigators, had taken care to recount the outcomes of the meeting that had been held on the occasion of the installation of the Section 88 polling station, of which she herself was a member as a scrutineer. In particular referring to Barilla about the absence of the chairwoman (and her secretary husband) during the agreed break, the perfect moment to implement the criminal plan.
This is the transcription of the voice message sent by Just to the Barilla:
“I’m at home, we talked about the breaks practically… we were counting the hours, like how long we have to stay there. She said that tomorrow morning she will tell us everything, who she lives near Cato and you can go home”
The continues Just:
“So tomorrow, as soon as we split break times, I’ll text you and… keep your phone close at all times. Be ready, as soon as he says the time he’s leaving, I’ll send you the message and so we can organize ourselves..”
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