2024-08-02 23:22:48
(ANSA) – CATANIA, 02 AUG – Over 100 Carabinieri from the Catania Provincial Command are executing a custody order issued by the investigating judge in the provinces of Catania and Agrigento against 13 suspects accused to varying degrees of mafia association and drug trafficking, especially cocaine. The investigation, called ‘Leonidi bis’, coordinated by the Catania DDA and conducted by the military of the Catania Investigative Unit with complex technical activities and field services, has allowed the dismantling of the mafia structure of the ‘Santapaola Ercolano’ family active in the ‘Villaggio Sant’Agata’ neighborhood. According to the prosecution, the group was hit just when it was trying to reorganize, because it was weakened by several judicial measures. The investigations also revealed the generational conflict between the ‘old mafia’ of the ‘big ones’, capable of directing the criminal group despite being in prison for several years, and the ‘young’ one, impetuous and exhibitionist, even on social media. An unscrupulousness that could have resulted in a murder, prevented by the immediate intervention of the Etna judiciary and the Catania Carabinieri, who last December blocked the armed wing of the organization, arresting nine people who were planning the elimination of a member of the rival ‘Cappello-Bonaccorsi’ clan. During the investigative activity, which lasted about 18 months, the Carabinieri seized five hunting rifles, three of which had sawn-off barrels, a Czechoslovakian machine gun, two pistols and over 350 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, as well as a kilo of cocaine, six kilos of hashish, a bulletproof vest and a blue flashing light for cars. (ANSA).
2024-08-02 23:22:48