A multiplicity of mafia groups coexisting with each other. This is how the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate describes the organized crime of the Alto Tavoliere with San Severo at its centre. There are three clans operating in the area: the Testa-La Piccirella is a group linked to the Foggia battery of Moretti-Pellegrino-Lanza, also active in Torremaggiore, Lesina and Poggio Imperiale.
The criminal consortium operates in the sector of arms trafficking and drug dealing, extortion and robberies, maintains contacts with Calabrian and Campania crime and shows a growing projection towards Abruzzo and Molise.
The Nardino clan is structured on the Camorra model and the leader is currently detained. Illicit interests are fundamentally concentrated in drug trafficking.
The Russian criminal group is permanently inserted into the criminal reality of San Severo also by virtue of its historical link with the Society. After the murder of the boss, the operation would be guaranteed by his son and other members of the family. The criminal clan can count on one of the most significant economic solidities compared to the clans of the province and is involved in drug trafficking on a national and international scale, is dedicated to usury, extortion and the commission of thefts and receiving stolen goods.
On 4 January 2023, the Carabinieri of San Severo, as part of the ‘Brother’ operation, carried out a precautionary measure against four individuals held responsible for the crime of trafficking and illicit possession of drugs (hashish, marijuana and cocaine).
The group operated in the historic center of San Severo, where buyers also came from the Foggia hinterland.
On 31 March 2023, the State Police of Foggia implemented a precautionary measure against 8 subjects, accused in various capacities of the crime of illegal possession and carrying of firearms aggravated by the mafia method.
During the execution – in the possession of one of the arrested people – a veritable arsenal of weapons and ammunition was found: a machine gun with serial number, equipped with two magazines and a silencer, a machine gun equipped with two magazines, two revolvers with serial number abraded, a semi-automatic pistol, a semi-automatic pistol with stamped serial number equipped with two magazines and a silencer
The investigation was inspired by two murders committed in the summer of 2021, which caused strong fibrillations within two criminal groups operating in the populous district of San Bernardino, the provincial epicenter of illicit trafficking and stronghold of numerous and distinct criminal groups, including new lineup.
Furthermore, on 28 April last year, the Foggia State Police and the San Severo Financial Police executed the confiscation decree against a top exponent of the Testa-La Piccirella clan.
The provision – which became irrevocable following the rejection sentence of the Court of Cassation of 9 March 2023 and the subsequent provision no. 51/2022 MP and 90/2022 of 16 June 2022 of the Court of Appeal of Bari, concerned immovable and movable assets worth approximately 400 thousand euros, largely already subject to the early seizure carried out on 29 May 2020
In Apricena, however, we note the operations of members of the Cursio family, already active in the narcotics sector, aimed at reconquering their territory through racketeering techniques.
Cenicola, Barbetti, Papa-Ricci and Bayan operate in Lucera. In Torremaggiore and Poggio Imperiale the Di Summa-Ferrelli family.
