Acquitted after 7 years 'for not having committed the crime': but he has already served his sentence

Armando Chiaro is not a member of the Polverino clan. "Acquitted for not having committed the crime," the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled, acquitting the former city councilor of the very serious charge of mafia-style criminal association. The ruling comes more than seven years after the 42-year-old's arrest, along with 38 other people in May 2011. The Carabinieri raid, "Polvere," also resulted in the arrest of well-known businessmen considered close to Giuseppe Polverino's organization—he too the subject of a pre-trial detention order, but captured the following year in Spain and subsequently extradited to Italy—as well as Chiaro himself. At the time, he was an outgoing city councilor and local coordinator of the People of Freedom party. Local elections were about to be held in Quarto, but in the midst of the campaign, the operation coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate arrived. His arrest caused quite a stir, but it didn't prevent him from being re-elected by a landslide. An election that was later annulled by the prefecture precisely because of the legal proceedings. However, yesterday the Fourth Criminal Section of the Court of Appeal of Naples put an end to these matters by pronouncing—after overturning the second-instance ruling issued on July 16, 2014, and the referral ordered by the Supreme Court of Cassation—a full acquittal that erases all charges against the politician. In addition to acquitting Chiaro on the merits, the judges also revoked the confiscation and ordered the release of all assets, which will now be returned to the former city councilor. The accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office and legal disqualification were also revoked. It will take three months to know the reasons for the ruling, but it is conceivable that Chiaro's lawyers—Claudio Botti and Giovanni Vignola—could file a request for compensation for wrongful imprisonment, given the time the former city councilor spent in prison and under house arrest.

The Court of Appeal also confirmed the acquittals of Gaetano Paternoster, 45-year-old Giuseppe Ruggiero and Vincenzo Perrotta. The judges also declared that no action should be taken against Amalia Gallotti. For 56-year-old Giuseppe Ruggiero, the Court instead determined a total sentence of 23 years and 6 months of imprisonment. The sentence was reduced to 3 years and 4 months of imprisonment, instead, for Domenico Verde, who also had his perpetual ban from holding public office revoked. The confiscations of some assets from Vito Carotenuto, Carmine Carputo, Agostino Carputo and Sabatino Cerullo were revoked. The confiscations ordered against Maria Di Giorgio, Anna Mauriello and Luigi Mele were also confirmed, who were sentenced to pay the legal costs.