The Financiers of the Provincial Command of Reggio Calabria, with the coordination of the local Public Prosecutor’s Office – District Anti-Mafia Directorate, directed by the Prosecutor Dr. Giovanni Bombardieri, are implementing a provision, issued by the Prevention Measures Section of the Court of Reggio Calabria, which provides for the application of the patrimonial measure of confiscation of assets – for a total value estimated at approximately 11.5 million euros – attributable to an entrepreneur from Gioia operating in the waste collection and management sector.
The criminal figure of the aforementioned had emerged, among others, in the “MALAPIGNA” operation, conducted by the Carabinieri of the NIPAAF of Reggio Calabria, in which – at the state of the proceedings and without prejudice to subsequent assessments regarding the effective and definitive ascertainment of the responsibility – he was considered leader, promoter and organizer of the “PIROMALLI” gang, of which he would become, over time, the financier and economic entrepreneurial arm.
As emerged from the investigative activity, in fact, the aforementioned entrepreneur would have been permanently included in the association at least since the 1990s, initially as a mere participant and then assuming a top-down role and the function of mafia entrepreneur, operating, in particular, in the sector of the disposal of ferrous and metallic waste and capable, precisely by virtue of his high criminal caliber, of entertaining illicit relationships with members of other mafia cliques.
Furthermore, as the economic-entrepreneurial arm of the gang, the aforementioned made his businesses available to allow the ‘Ndrangheta to launder illicit proceeds.
In relation to the results of the above activities, the local District Anti-Mafia Directorate – increasingly interested in the economic-entrepreneurial aspects linked to organized crime – valorising the functions of the Guardia di Finanza in preventing and combating any form of criminal infiltration into the fabric of the country and of aggression against illicitly accumulated assets – delegated the Organized Crime Investigation Group (GICO) of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Reggio Calabria to carry out a specific economic/patrimonial investigation aimed at the application, against the aforementioned entrepreneur, of a capital prevention measure.
The activity under review, also valorising the results of previous investigations, through a complex and articulated verification and documentary verification activity, made it possible to reconstruct the asset acquisitions – direct and/or indirect – carried out by the entrepreneur over the course of twenty years and to identify the assets directly and indirectly in the availability of the same, the value of which would have been decidedly disproportionate compared to the demonstrated earning capacity or the fruit or reuse of illicit activities.
In light of these findings, the Prevention Measures Section of the Court of Reggio Calabria in February 2022 ordered the seizure of the assets attributable to the aforementioned entrepreneur and, subsequently, recognizing the validity of the circumstantial system, based on the detailed economic-patrimonial investigations and on the documentary checks carried out by the Financiers of the GICO of the PEF Unit of Reggio Calabria also in the cross-examination phase with the defense, has ordered – at the state of the proceedings and without prejudice to any subsequent assessment on the merits – the application of the patrimonial prevention measure of the confiscation of all the assets already seized, consisting of the entire company compendium of n. 3 companies and 1 individual company operating in the metal waste disposal and construction sectors – including 37 cars and vehicles and the ownership shares of 3 lands located in the province of Reggio Calabria – 4 buildings located in the province of Regio Calabria, 27 luxury watches, various types of jewelery and precious objects, approximately 75 thousand euros in cash, as well as all banking/financial/insurance relationships and related availability, for a total value estimated at approximately 11.5 million euros.
Furthermore, with the same provision, the aforementioned AG subjected the entrepreneur to the personal prevention measure of the Special Public Security Surveillance for a period of 4 years, with the obligation to stay in the municipality of residence or habitual residence.
The service activity in review once again testifies to the high level of attention maintained by the Financial Police of Reggio Calabria which – following the precise indications of the Reggio Calabria Judicial Authority – continues to be directed towards the identification and consequent attack on assets and of the financial resources illicitly accumulated by mafia-type criminal gangs, with the aim of stemming market pollution and promoting free competition, with the aim of restoring adequate levels of legality and protecting healthy entrepreneurship by ensuring transparency and public safety.
