Naples court judge Maria Luisa Miranda has ordered the seizure of an artificial island that is part of the archipelago called “The World”. built in the sea facing the coast of Dubai. The island, called Taiwan, was purchased in 2008 by Raffaele Imperiale, a well-known Camorra leader arrested in Dubai on 4 August 2021. Imperiale was for years one of the most wanted organized crime leaders together with the mafiosi Matteo Messina Denaro and Giovanni Motisi and to the other Camorra member Renato Cinquegranella.
Archipelago now almost abandoned
After the arrest and subsequent return to Italy, Imperiale began to collaborate with the Italian justice system. Through his lawyer, he made the documents available to investigators to reconstruct the purchase of the island, the seizure of which has just been ordered. Formally the island is registered in the name of a company managed by a Neapolitan entrepreneur who lives in Dubai. Imperiale claims to have paid the island 30 million euros. In the meantime, the artificial archipelago has been almost abandoned: the navigable canals that serve to connect the islands have become blocked and almost all the buildings constructed are uninhabited.
Asked for 14 years and 9 months in prison
In a new trial that opened last autumn, the public prosecutor Maurizio De Marco asked for 14 years and 9 months in prison for Imperiale. The last few months have been used by the court to understand whether it was actually possible to seize the island of Imperiale. In recent days, judge Maria Luisa Miranda has therefore issued the seizure decree: the notification is the first act of the procedure for the international letter rogatory which should allow the Italian State to acquire the island.
