Stop the music scheduled for Sunday in Isola del Gran Sasso for the ‘Start Summer Festival’: “Praise crime and prisoners under 41-bis”. Similar decisions in Capistrello, Puglia and Calabria
GRAN SASSO ISLAND – Even the police commissioner of Teramo, Carmine Soriente, as has already happened to other of his colleagues and mayors – not least that of L’Aquila, Enrico De Simone, last June 11th for Capistrello – banned the concert of the neomelodic singer Daniele De Martino, born Agostino Galluzzo, scheduled for next Sunday, June 23, in Isola del Gran Sasso.
The decision, taken at the specific request of the provincial command of the Carabinieri of Teramo, orders both the organizers of ‘Start Summer Festival 2024 – first pizza and porchetta festival’, and the mayor of Isola, Andrea Ianni, to cancel the concert of 29-year-old artist born in Palermo but resident in Nola in the Neapolitan area.
The motivation for the provision is similar to that of other places in Italy, mostly in the South: the lyrics of his songs ‘wink’ at the mafia, in general at organized crime but are also said to be ‘supporting the prisoners under 41bis’.
As mentioned, in the very recent past other police commissioners in other places in Italy, including Capistrello nell’Aquilano last 11 June, have ordered the cancellation of De Martino’s concerts: it had also happened in Bagnara Calabra last 1 May, in Teggiano (Salerno) on 25 April, while in August 2023 the case exploded in Canosa di Puglia. The forerunners of these stops were the police commissioner of Palermo, in 2022, followed by the mayor of Borgia (Catanzaro).
Among the security reasons, as put in black and white by the Police Commissioner Soriente in his provision, would also lie in the curriculum vitae of a singer who, although highly appreciated and with thousands of followers on social channels, “he doesn’t disdain – writes the police commissioner – to accompany convicts with criminal records for serious crimes”. De Martino himself, in 2022, was reached by an oral warning in Palermo. The fear of the police is that the concert, scheduled for next Sunday in Isola del Gran Sasso, could attract the participation of “elements attributable to criminal environments”, as well as bringing with him a “strong intrinsically negative impact” for the youth population.
