Boss talking to another boss. Elio Greco, arrested yesterday as part of the Fenice investigation coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Sebastiano Ardita and the deputy Alfio Gabriele Fragalà, would have had a direct relationship with Salvatore Rinaldi, known as Turi millimachines, who for several years coordinated the illicit affairs of the Santapaola-Ercolano family from Catania. Two equals, therefore, who would have had direct relationships to close mafia deals. In recent years, the financiers of the Gico of Catania and the Ragusan carabinieri have discovered that Greco would have made the leap in quality within the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, becoming in all respects the criminal contact for Vittoria. A boss in a suit and tie who moves in the entrepreneurial mafia trying, through intimidation, blackmail and violence, to impose his power in the fruit and vegetable packaging market but also in fuel.
And it is in this sector that the figure of the Catania mafioso emerges, who is not investigated in the order issued by the investigating judge Stefano Montoneri. The colonel of Cosa Nostra Etna, before being arrested two years ago in the Agora blitz for which he was recently convicted, spoke several times with the criminal from Vittoria. Rinaldi would have acted «as a point of connection with the Santapaola-Ercolano clan, taking care of relations with the other territorial branches of Cosa Nostra» and would also have played «a crucial role» in «facilitating large-scale criminal operations». The Catanian and Greco would have “actively collaborated in the hydrocarbon trafficking sector”. And it is in illicit fuel transactions that the involvement of Raffaele Giudice (arrested yesterday for external complicity) and the Prisco brothers from Naples comes to light. Even if at a certain point the situation with the Neapolitans became complicated due to some debts. But Rinaldi, who put his face into it, is succinct: «He sells the car, he sells it to his wife… he has to give me this money».
The mechanic from Catania, who has a workshop in Via Zia Lisa, would also have acted as a “guarantor in sales” for Greco. He would have demonstrated, we read in the judicial documents, that he could “manage complex and delicate dynamics between leading figures of organized crime”.
The Catania mafia boss would also have been able to influence hiring in some companies in the Caltagirone area. Greco and Maurizio Piedigaci, another suspect receiving a precautionary measure, urge Rinaldi to obtain a place. And it is a collaborator from the Caltagirone area who told the magistrates that it was “Turi u mechanic” (another nickname for Rinaldi) who advised him to get in touch with Greco, as Vittoria’s contact person, to “obtain protection” for an operation commercial. «He knew a certain Elio who had a company that produced wooden or cardboard crates for fruit, who he said was a friend of theirs, a point of reference from whom I could go on his behalf and that he would make himself available», explains the repented to the prosecutors. Furthermore, Palio certifies to the magistrates that Greco would have the fruit and vegetable market in his hands thanks to his friendship with the Catania boss: «He was able to easily establish himself in the world of the Vittoria fruit and vegetable market thanks to the protection that the mechanic guaranteed him from Catania”.
The dangerous relations between the two members of Cosa Nostra become “illuminating” when Raffaele Giudice proposes “to open a transport brokerage agency in Francofonte, an area under the influence of the Nardo clan”. Giudice does not advance the hypothesis randomly, but does so because he is «aware of the solid mafia ties between Greco and Rinaldi.
When Greco ends up behind bars, it is Gaetano Valenti who maintains relations with the Etna boss. At least until the handcuffs arrive for him too.
