MESSINA – The drug wholesalers of Giostra, the Castorina and Abate, quickly replaced the couriers, when necessary, also thanks to the women’s manpower, who were useful in diverting the controls of the police, according to the group dismantled by the anti-drug operation with 112 arrests of last June 25th. However, the arrests have shown that this is not the case.
The drug wholesalers of Giostra
“We have found the great capacity of this organization to manage deliveries, just like the big commercial companies. They had extreme ease in replacing couriers, if necessary, and the role of women was active in the group”, explains the deputy prosecutor Rosa Raffa who coordinated the investigations entrusted to prosecutors Roberto Conte and Antonella cold
Romantic text messages to deceive the controls
She is accused of having participated in the cCocaine deliveries in Pirainofor example, Giada Sabatini, gone under house arrest, companion of Giuseppe Gangemi, the main courier of the organization. Gangemi, discovers the bugs of the Carabinieri, loads the cocaine and in the meantime organizes the delivery, giving instructions to his companion on how to send the text messages so as not to arouse suspicion: “When you write, you are ready to go … add after my love”, Gangemi essentially reprimands her. The presence of the woman in the car, the dealers think, helps the deliveries because it would make the police busy with the checks think that there is nothing strange. They are therefore often used as “showgirls” to force the roadblocks, when the neighborhood is patrolled by massive checks.
The courier women and the drugs in the wheel
Furthermore, it is often the women themselves who transport the narcotic themselves. One of the deliveries intercepted by the carabinieri, for example, was managed by three of the companions members of the group. The drugs for the occasion were hidden in the tire of a wheel. But the carabinieri stopped them and found the load. The dealers began to suspect that one of the women had “got caught,” perhaps by nervously looking right toward the hiding place of the drugs.
The role of Aunt Graziella
Not just “showgirls” to screen the controls. In the organization, women also had much more operational roles. Like Grazia Minutes (62 years old), wife of Giuseppe Mazzeo, accused of having dealt with the collection of debts from clients and of having organized the maintenance of her husband in prison, guaranteed by the Castorinos and Abbate. The woman had been intercepted during the“Broken” investigation costing her husband prison, to participate in the planning of drug deliveries to Tortorici, but not enough evidence had been found against her in the past. With the operation “of the 112”, however, the picture changes and “aunt Graziella” is now in prison.
