Naples. The revolutionary cartel of the “Farc” of Colombia and the ransom request of one million euros are behind the mysterious disappearance of the Neapolitan entrepreneur Raffaele Romano on February 18, 2014 in Bogota, Colombia. This is the disturbing and unpublished background that emerges from reading the more than two thousand pages of the precautionary order signed by the investigating judge Roberto D'Auria of the 2014th section of the Court of Naples with which three days ago the entire criminal system of the Secondigliano Alliance was dismantled. An entire chapter of the ordinance is dedicated to the story of Romano's disappearance, but above all to his ties and those of his brother Salvatore with the young boss Ettore Bosti, son of Patrizio. It talks about the laundering of Ettore Bosti's illicit capital, drug trafficking with the Colombians and the ties with the infamous Raffaele Imperiale, known as lelluccio o' parente or lelluccio ferrarelle, the well-known drug lord from Castellammare di Stabia linked to the Amato-Pagano family and known for the two stolen Van Goghs and for his golden time as a fugitive in Dubai. The two Romano brothers ran the Totò&Peppino restaurant in Madrid, which was very popular with VIPs and Real Madrid footballers. Salvatore Romano was arrested in Spain in August XNUMX as part of the "Tarantella" operation conducted by the Spanish Guardia Civil with the collaboration of the Italian police. And the other day, investigating judge D'Auria confirmed the suspicions. It is no coincidence that he writes: “The complex of investigations therefore demonstrated that the Romanos, and their economic activities, are nothing more than an “outpost” of the Contini clan in Spain, used when necessary both as a logistical point for illicit business on Spanish soil (such as drug trafficking) and as a real “ATM” for significant actions of reinvestment and/or laundering of money of illicit origin deriving from criminal activities perpetrated by the same Camorra clan”. The link between Ettoruccio Bosti o' Russo and the Romano brothers, according to what emerges from the order, is Marco Botta, Bosti's brother-in-law and cousin of the Romanos. It is he who maintains the connections, it is he who carries the “embassies” and it is he who lets the young boss know how much and how to pay the “instalment” of the restaurant. And it is in this context of money laundering of the Contini clan, of a large drug trafficking disappeared in France and of the figure of a Colombian woman presumed lover of Raffele Romano that the disappearance of the entrepreneur originally from Scampia fits in. His brother Salvatore, knowing full well that there was a ransom request and the probable death of his relative, in recent years also visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Neapolitan friends asking for the Italian embassy to take action. The mother and wife of the missing man (who was against the trip) also made appeals through the newspapers and on TV, knowing the probable sad fate of their relative.
It is no coincidence that the investigating judge writes: 'the Romano brothers were well aware and conscious of being an economic appendage of Bosti. This is highlighted in all its entirety when Salvatore, while communicating to his mother the hypothesis of very serious repercussions on the person of his brother Raffaele apparently arising from unjustified "missed payments", makes her understand that, if they wanted, the same Botta and Bosti could have liquid money within the times established by them simply in the way they had always done and therefore by going directly to them in Madrid to withdraw what they wanted, without waiting for the agreed deadlines'. But returning to the disappearance of Raffaele Romano, Brother Salvatore three days after 18 February 2014 in the interrogation before the Guardia Civil in Madrid dated 21 February 2014 explained that his brother had gone to Colombia to stay there for a month and that he had stayed in a hotel in the city of Meddelin. Specifically, Salvatore stated that Raffaele told him on the phone on February 18, 2014 that he was traveling to the city of Bogota, but without giving any explanation of this trip and that since then he has never been able to get in touch with him. Then, in the interrogation dated April 7, 2014, he explained that he had suspicions about the Colombian citizen…omissis…, since she had traveled to Colombia 2 days after the actual disappearance of her brother Raffaele, reporting his disappearance only after 6 days, using as an excuse the fact that the report had to be made by her brother and that she would return immediately after another 2 or 3 days. He also reported to the investigators the fact that the girl had previously told him that she had communicated to the Colombian authorities that at the time of the disappearance she was with Raffaele Romano in Colombia, while he had the information that the woman was in Spain.
And again in the interrogation dated April 8, 2014, the Colombian woman had told him that the last time she had had contact with Raffaele (on 18.02.2014), the latter had told her, via WhatsApp message, that "they were taking him to the mountain" and as proof of this she showed him only an excerpt of this message where the exact words and images were written: "they are taking me to the mountain" with 2 emoticons.
The Spanish Guardia Civil, which was carrying out a Judicial Police activity related to “Operation Tarantella”, had learned on that occasion that Raffaele Romano had disappeared in Colombia and that he had most likely been kidnapped for ransom by criminals linked to the revolutionary forces of Colombia “Farc”, who were asking his brother Salvatore for the sum of “one million euros” for his release. So much so that at the Totò&Peppino restaurant in Madrid an unidentified Colombian girl had shown up and given those present a “dedicated” cell phone to use for the negotiation. All the users who had then contacted the cell phone in question were later found to be of Venezuelan origin. A few months ago Ettore Bosti called Salvatore Romano asking him to hurry up, through his acquaintances in the Naples State Police, to get him the passport previously requested with the excuse of going to see the World Cup in Brazil. But the release of the passport was denied. In the following months there were a series of phone calls and meetings between Romano's relatives aimed at seeking news about their relative. In that period Salvatore Romano had also told his relatives that he was also willing to pay the sum of one million euros to his brother's alleged kidnappers if this payment would help free his brother Raffaele. This never happened and there has been no news of Raffaele Romano since 2014.
Rosaria Federico
(in the photo the FARC guerrillas and from the left the missing Raffaele Romano and the young boss Ettore Bosti)
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