Thirty years at the boss Thomas Anelloacquittal for the former regional councilor Francescantonio Stillitaniaccused together with his brother Emmanuel (also acquitted) of being an entrepreneur in the service of the Anello clan. This concluded the first degree trial arising from the “Imponimento” investigation against the gang Fruci ring of Philadelphia, operating in the territory between the province of Vibo Valentia and the district of Lamezia Terme. And it is right here, in the bunker courtroom built in recent years specifically to celebrate the maxi-trials that the Court of Lamezia Terme issued the sentence: on 72 defendants Almost 50 they were convicted. The heaviest sentence, 30 years in prison, was inflicted on the boss Tommaso Anello, considered one of the two undisputed leaders of the gang of the same name together with his brother Roccosentenced in the first instance to 20 years’ imprisonment with the abbreviated sentence.
At the request of the DDA of CatanzaroFurthermore, the Court also sentenced Rocco Anello, namesake of his uncle and son of the boss Tommaso Anello, to 24 years in prison for mafia association. According to prosecutors, between Lamezia and Vibo Valentia the Anello gang from Philadelphia managed everything: from entrepreneurial activities to extortion, from drug and weapons trafficking to money laundering, including controlling the vote for the regional elections. Speaking of politics and entrepreneurship, the Stillitani brothers active in the hotel tourism sector were acquitted. Both were arrested in 2020 due to external competition with the ‘Ndrangheta. The former regional councilor, in particular, was considered by the magistrates to be “the political figure of reference for the association” and suspected of having guaranteed the Anellos money and hiring in exchange for “support during the electoral competitions which saw him as a candidate through multiple political-mafia agreements”. An accusatory system which, as far as the Stillitans are concerned, did not hold up before the Court of Lamezia Terme which, within 90 days, will file the reasons for the sentence.
