Dozens of amphorae from the late Roman era, a marble base and other finds “protected by historical, artistic and archaeological interest” were seized by the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate from Giovanni Franco Becchina, an 85-year-old from Castelvetrano, considered by the investigators to be one of the close circle of collaborators by Matteo Messina Money. Dia executed the seizure decree aimed at preventive confiscation issued by the Court of Trapani as part of the investigation into Becchina’s activity as an international trafficker of works of art. This time the agents seized the amphorae and the base from the Hellenistic-Roman age, with reproductions of mythological scenes carved on all sides, all works considered to be of great value. But it is not the first time that the elderly man from Castelvetrano has been attacked or is involved in judicial investigations, managing to emerge unscathed. Becchina is believed by investigators to be linked by a long-standing relationship with the former mafia boss Messina Denaro, and to have supported him by financing him during his long absence. The former art dealer had been identified by some repentants and then investigated for having taken part in a plan for the theft of the bronze statue of the Dancing Satyr, on Messina Denaro’s own orders, with the aim of putting it on the black market . The attack failed on two occasions and was then shelved.
The investigations
And again in 2017, archaeological works and finds worth several million euros were seized in Becchina. The prosecutor’s office moved after the declarations of Giuseppe Grigoli, the former king of supermarkets close to Matteo Messina Denaro in the large-scale distribution affair. «Because Gianfranco Becchina had to give these things and therefore they had to end up in Panicola and then arrive at chiddu, to Matteo Messina Denaro”. But the 85-year-old has no convictions and the suspicions have never resulted in sentences. «Although to date he has not reported definitive convictions for the crime of mafia association, his associations, his “trafficking” and direct relationships with the environments of organized crime of the Castelvetranese mafia type make his degree of “qualified” dangerousness current and relevant ”», the investigators admitted in the seizure decree 7 years ago. Against Becchina, Dia writes today, “numerous clues emerge regarding his dangerousness, characterized by being a person who draws his livelihood from his activity as an international trafficker of archaeological finds”. Also on the basis of the asset investigations carried out by the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate of Trapani which demonstrated the disproportion between the sources of income and the employment of the suspect’s family unit. The seized works of art will now be entrusted to the Superintendency of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, and in the future they will once again be available to the community.
