Over 100 people investigated for an investigation between Salerno, Naples, Avellino, Caserta, Cosenza and Taranto by the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza of Salerno and Taranto, on behalf of the DDA of Potenza and Lecce, which led to the execution of 45 restrictive precautionary measures.
Contents
There are 26 suspects in prison, 11 have been granted house arrest by the investigating judge, while six have been ordered to remain in prison; there are also two interdictory measures for the suspension of the exercise of functions for two members of the Guardia di Finanza for six months. Properties, companies and warehouses have also been seized. The crimes contested are mafia-style criminal association, criminal association aimed at committing fraud in the field of excise duties and VAT on mineral oils, fictitious registration of goods and companies, money laundering and self-laundering, as well as use of money of illicit origin. The investigations have revealed the synergy between the mafias of Salerno, Taranto and Lecce around the smuggling of mineral oils; the 'families' involved in the business were linked to the Casalesi and the Cicala clan.
Even an unfaithful carabiniere among those arrested
In the past few months, when the first evidence of his involvement had already emerged, he had been transferred to another province: today an 'unfaithful carabiniere' was arrested, who was on duty at the provincial command of Salerno, involved in the investigation. There are also two interdictory measures of suspension from the exercise of their respective functions of two members of the Corps for a duration of six months. The arrest was carried out by the military of the Provincial Command of Salerno on charges of revealing official secrets for having provided information on ongoing investigations, in exchange for which, according to what was reconstructed by the investigators, he would have received cans of fuel, then sold to third parties.
Profits of 30 million euros per year
Profits of 30 million euros per year from the criminal association. "It was characterized by the ability to control the territory, with consequent control of the illicit trafficking developed in the environmental context of reference, with consequent reinvestment of economic resources in numerous economic-commercial activities, some of which directly attributable to the organization also through a dense network of front men, which was characterized by the use of violence and weapons that were put at the service of the criminal strategy aimed at acquiring control of economic activities and, in particular, that of the distribution of hydrocarbons which, as mentioned, proved to be extremely lucrative". The illicit activity "has generated very significant profits, quantified at approximately 30.000.000 every year".
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN: Covid, Campania once again first in Italy for positives
On the Lucanian side, the investigation – launched on the initiative of this District Anti-Mafia Directorate at the end of 2018 – started from a delegation to the judicial police (initially the Carabinieri of the Sala Consilina Company and the Investigative Unit of Salerno, then also the GdF of Salerno) to proceed with a broad-spectrum analysis in the lower Salerno area (which only in recent years has passed under the jurisdiction of the DDA of Potenza) with the aim of identifying commercial operators who acted as a hidden terminal for the reinvestment of illicit capital by exogenous criminal associations. Attention was immediately focused on the position of the Carburanti Petrullo company of San Rufo, in the province of Salerno and more generally on the fuel companies of the Petrullo Group, which – due to the dynamics of their size, structure, relationships and 'spy' behaviour – revealed a series of incongruous profiles, such as the inexplicable exponential increase in turnover and investments within a few years.
THE PENETRATION OF THE CASALESI INTO THE SALERNITAN AREA
Since the beginning of 2019, targeted technical activities have been carried out - both by the DDA of Potenza and that of Taranto and by the respective judicial police - (in addition to the classic telephone interceptions, use was also made of computer interceptors, GPS devices and environmental microphones) which, during the overall 14 months of the investigation - supported by the activities carried out by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Salerno which, on the basis of independent info-investigative input, had started (at the end of 2017) a tax audit for excise duties and VAT purposes against Petrullo's companies - in order to ascertain potential evasive conduct carried out in the sale of petroleum products - which led the DDA of Potenza to charge the members of the criminal economic group headed by Petrullo and the Dianas with, in addition to the numerous crimes of smuggling, VAT fraud, extortion and fraud, also the crime of criminal association aggravated by the purpose to facilitate the Casalesi clan, through the penetration into a new territory still immune from this phenomenon (that of the Vallo di Diano) of a criminal entrepreneurship that was a trailblazer for the mafia association. From the very first findings, it was ascertained that the company, active in the energy products trade market, had in practice become the privileged channel through which the Diana family (investigated for having "poisoned", over time, their homeland with waste trafficking) had infiltrated the economic-social fabric of the Vallo di Diano, for this purpose entering into a pactum sceleris with Massimo Petrullo, owner of the fuel company of the same name and outpost of the Casalesi in that territory and with other exponents of local entrepreneurship.
Due to the complexity of the matter from a fiscal perspective, the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Salerno and Taranto was entrusted with the primary task of quantifying and certifying the illicit profit obtained by the association through the systematic evasion of excise duties and VAT, assisting the investigators of the Arma in reconstructing the various phases of the complex fraud. In light of the circumstantial evidence collected during the technical investigations and the analysis of the reports for suspicious transactions, as well as the results of the administrative activities carried out by the Salerno Financiers, the investigative context was extended starting at least from 2015, the year in which the first contacts between Diana Raffaele and Petrullo Massimo were detected, as well as the commercial relationships between them and companies in the Caserta area (an area, moreover, also under the influence of the Diana family) and then the stable ones with companies attributable to the Taranto mafia clan.
PROFITS FROM THE SALES OF FUELS FOR AGRICULTURAL USE
Huge quantities of fuel for agricultural use, which as is known benefits from special tax breaks, were sold to individuals who then released it into the normal market for motor vehicles, very often using the so-called "white pumps". This is what emerges from the investigations: The Taranto people, in addition to achieving their own goals, periodically provided the Lucanians with a list of names whose tax identities and UMA booklets were cloned so that the companies of the Campania/Lucanian association (as we will see of Casalese origin) could fictitiously invoice the sale of fuel for agricultural use to these, unaware, agricultural entrepreneurs, while in reality the product was sold illegally to economic operators who fraudulently released it into the market for motor vehicles with profits of around 50% on the actual cost of each litre of petrol and naphtha sold. A real mine of black gold.
As regards the transport of the product, however, it left the tax warehouses accompanied by documents falsely certifying the transport of agricultural diesel fuel. In the event of a check by the Police Force, the driver activated a special electromagnetic device that activated a pump that injected the dye (agricultural fuel has a different colour than fuel normally used for motor vehicles) aligning the product with the documents exhibited. In the absence of checks, the truck reached the commercial warehouses attributable to the suspects, simulated the unloading of the product (stopping in favour of the surveillance cameras for a time compatible with that actually necessary for the operations), simulated the loading of diesel fuel for motor vehicles (with the same precautions) and left again escorted by accompanying tax documents cloned with respect to the numbering of the loading and unloading register certifying the transport of diesel fuel for motor vehicles that would have been recorded in the event of a check. Once it reached the final recipient without checks, the cloned Das was torn up and the operation was not recorded. Thus the illegal sale of agricultural fuel used and sold (at almost double the price) for normal automotive purposes was completed.
Article published on 12 April 2021 - 21:11
Video Chronicles
