“The evidence of the facts appears clear”, at least for most of the people involved. And so, exactly one month after the arrests, seven people accused in various capacities of having induced, facilitated, exploited, managed and organized the prostitution of four underage girls end up in immediate judgment. The decision was taken yesterday by the investigating judge of Bari Giuseppe Ronzino who, in addition to signing the precautionary custody order with which, last May 13th, 10 were subjected to measurement, he also conducted the guarantee interviews.
And so, accepting the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, he ordered the immediate trial – the trial will open on October 3rd – for the four «Squad girls» Marilena Lopez (35 years old), Antonella Albanese (21), Federica Devito (25) and Elisabetta Manzari (24), as well as for Nicola Basile (25), Roberto Urbino (42) and Ruggiero Doronzo (29).
The decision arrived a few days after the latest provisions of the Review Court, which had granted house arrest for Manzari and Doronzo, who remained in prison for a few weeks. Lopez, Devito and Basile are still in prison.
The investigating judge’s provision, however, did not concern three other suspects subjected to measures, namely the Bari B&B manager Michele Annoscia, the Lecce lawyer Stefano Chiriatti (both are subject to residence requirements) and Roberto Carlino.
The first is accused of being aware of the prostitution ring that took place in his facility (and of tolerating it), the other two are considered by the Prosecutor’s Office to be clients of the girls. The disputed facts date back to the period between 2021 and 2022, when the young people were just 16 years old.
The investigations were coordinated by prosecutors Ciro Angelillis (assistant prosecutor) and Matteo Soave, and conducted by the flying squad led by Filippo Portoghese.
The first ordinance
Compared to the May order, in which three girls who were minors at the time were considered victims (but from the documents it emerged that there were more young people exploited), the investigators now also consider a fourth girl as the offended party. This is the young woman who, convinced by one of her classmates, prostituted herself on some occasions and then decided to leave the scene.
One day, the two young women would have made an appointment (through Nicola Basile) with a client even in broad daylight, during school hours, taking advantage of an early exit for a school assembly.
The girls who were victims of this affair, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, were forced into prostitution by the four “Squad girls” and at a later time (but not all of them) by Nicola Basile: the exploiters would have made appointments with clients by placing adverts on the internet , and then they would split the earnings with the girls. The services could have cost from 100 to 500 euros, one of the victims would have earned up to 13 thousand euros in a week.
The investigations started from the complaint of a mother of one of the girls, worried about her daughter’s association with Antonella Albanese.
