CATANZARO «We turned on the spotlight on an ‘Ndrangheta gang rooted in the Preserre Vibo area and in Ariola Gerocarne’s club, already involved in other operations in the past. Now we have reconstructed the current structure after the conflicts and several murders, one of which was recognized as the Ariola massacre in 2003 and the investigation concerns precisely the group that prevailed in that conflict”. He said it this morning, in a press conference, the acting prosecutor of the Catanzaro DDA, Vincenzo Capomolla, illustrating the details of the investigation which, at dawn today, led to the arrest of 14 people, 13 of whom ended up in prison and one under house arrest, with the intervention of over 200 Carabinieri.
Screenings in Piedmont and Switzerland
Capomolla then underlined the fundamental synergy between the ROS and the Vibo Valentia Carabinieri Command for the investigations which concerned the gang’s projections outside Calabria, especially in Abruzzo and Piedmont. «Projections – he explained – which manifested themselves in economic initiatives, with entrepreneurs and criminals from those territories who acted as a launching pad for the gang, with benefits in real estate sales, extortion and infiltration in the agri-food chain». Projection outside Calabria which, in the investigative phase, also led to collaboration with the police forces of other countries and especially in Switzerland.
The “Ariola massacre”
In the area of Preserve a «cross-section of a very deep-rooted ‘Ndrangheta structure has been identified, still with an archaic and particularly aggressive and predatory organization. We have rebuilt the command and military structure, also reconstructing bloody acts and a strong action of social control, with violent and punitive actions in some cases of aggression. And then we reconstructed the Ariola massacre, 14 12 caliber shots, then a military attack with weapons of war confirming the violence of the group”, instead said the provincial Commander of the Carabinieri, Luca Toti. For the “Ariola massacre” «there had been no arrests so far, the fact had been brought to attention in the context of other investigations which concerned that territorial criminal context of clash between the different souls of the ‘ndrina Maiolo criminal group». In fact, among those arrested there are also instigators and perpetrators.
The “Calabria brand” in Abruzzo and Switzerland
It is, therefore, an investigation which for the ROS began in L’Aquila, where even in that territory “archaism in the area of origin translates into criminal activity”. Synergies with other criminal components in Italy and investitures of affiliates in prison were also ascertained. In Switzerland, in particular, there has been an operational investigative mechanism while the ‘ndrina Maiolo, in L’Aquila, was interested in advertising the “Calabria brand”, using the positive elements of Calabria for criminal purposes”, explained the colonel and deputy commander of the Carabinieri ROS, Gianluca Valerio.
Calabrian products
«The Calabrian clans had taken root in Abruzzo, with some of the subjects present also due to previous stays in prison. And here they also started companies to advertise the beauties of Calabria, with the complacency of local entities. The expansion of the gang was then directed towards Piedmont, also with violent and armed acts, including a millionaire robbery with an attack on a security guard, with connections of these subjects who continuously moved between Italy and abroad” The “contamination”, the Carabinieri further explained in the press conference, followed “a criminal plan and an economic plan, with commercial establishments serving as a drug distribution network and, therefore, through the penetration of the Abruzzo market with Calabrian products and with diversified interests in the distribution of food and dairy raw materials”. (B.C)
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