A drug bridge that connected Calabria with Sicily. A thriving cocaine trafficking run by two gangs, one headed in Catania by Carmelo Scilio, known as “Aricchiazzi” and the other by the Calabrian cell headed by Bruno Cidoni and Antonio Pezzano, the suppliers of the drugs to be sold in the various drug dealing centers in Catania . This is what emerges from the “Devotion” operation – so called because of a small image of the Madonna of the Monastery of Polsi in Aspromonte found in the cover of Cidoni’s mobile phone – carried out this morning by the Catania flying squad and which led to the arrest of 13 people and notices of the conclusion of the investigations for another 16. All the suspects are accused of criminal association aimed at trafficking and dealing drugs: some of them are suspected of possession and illegal carrying of clandestine weapons.
The investigations
The investigations, which began in June 2020 and evolved within just seven months, allowed the initial identification of the Catania criminal cell headed by Scilio. The latter, despite being subjected to house arrest, continued to manage the “business”, often even leaving his home. Which is why, in the order, the hypothesis of tax evasion is also contested against him. The cameras, installed near his house in via Capricorno, immortalized several times between June and July 2020 Cidoni and Pezzano entering Scilio’s house with some wrappings and leaving shortly after with some envelopes in tow. After the further precautionary measure that affects Scilio, the investigation shifts to the Calabrian cell, which moved to Catania to better manage business and facilitate the transport of the narcotic substance. Here several logistical bases had been set up located in various neighborhoods, in particular in San Giovanni Galermo, where the drugs were stored or hidden and subsequently cut and put on sale to buyers.
The names of those arrested
How the drugs arrived
From a logistical point of view, Cidone and Pezzano had contacts with the Calabrian territory through Pasquale Zangari who acted as an intermediary, supplying the cocaine and collecting the sums in return. The person who instead made the trips for transport and payments was Francesco Sedici, who sent the white powder to Catania and, after an intermediate step in which he hid it in a box, traveled to Cidoni’s house in via Beata Giovanna Jugan. Headquarters of the Calabrian trafficker in which, during the investigations, 90,300 euros in cash were found “walled up”, a figure that serves to give an idea of the amount of money produced by the axis between the two groups.
A well-oiled mechanism, which continued until the arrest of Sedici, caught with five kilos on board a car in November 2020. The cocaine, in fact, arrived through the use of cars promptly prepared with hidden compartments.
After Sedici’s arrest, however, the group’s operating methods change. The drugs begin to arrive no longer in ordinary cars but in articulated lorries. Once she reached her destination she was picked up by another courier who took her to the San Giorgio area, where an activity similar to that of San Giovanni Galermo was carried out and became the logistical base of the criminal activity.
11 kilos of cocaine seized
Throughout the course of the investigations, 20 shipments of cocaine were documented in six months, destined for criminals from Catania linked to various mafia clans. During the investigations, 11 kilos of cocaine and all the equipment useful for processing and storing the drug were seized. Lots of drugs but also weapons. Also seized was a 38 caliber special pistol with abraded serial number and ammunition, found in the possession of Pietro Sedici, Francesco’s son.
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