In an investigation by the DDA of Potenza, the Carabinieri of the provincial command of Salerno executed seven precautionary measures (six arrests and one obligation to remain in residence) on charges of organized waste trafficking and environmental pollution.
Luigi Cardiello, already the subject of numerous environmental investigations conducted by the Naples Prosecutor's Office and Santa Maria Capua Vetere between the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s, which had earned him the nickname of 'King Midas' of waste (operations King Midas and Cassiopeia). The activities, conducted by the Investigative Unit of Salerno and the Carabinieri Company of Sala Consilina, constitute an autonomous branch of the investigation called 'black gold fever', during the course of whose interceptions the commitment of Raffaele Diana, already co-defendant with Cardiello in the investigations, to assist his former business partner in the search for new sites for the illicit storage and dumping of hazardous waste, the result of industrial processing, had emerged in an absolutely clear manner.
THE ROLE OF RAFFAELE DIANA
Although Diana did not continue with her criminal conduct, the initial agreements between the two were deemed sufficient by investigators to open a new front of investigation against the former King Midas, considered, both for his ability and criminal importance, certainly capable of managing a new organization completely autonomous in waste trafficking, with projections towards territories until now unexplored by criminal organizations operating in the sector.
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In fact, Cardiello immediately needed to identify new lands in the Vallo di Diano area and in the neighbouring areas of Basilicata that did not give rise to particular suspicions and that were well connected to the main roads, to facilitate transport operations. The subsequent investigations by the military of the Arma, coordinated by the Potenza DDA and conducted with the support of modern technical activities, but, above all, with the traditional covert and proximity observation services, have limited illicit behavior attributable to the work of the company "Pra Cal" of Polla (SA), operating in the iron and aluminum sector and the company "Betonval" of Sant'Arsenio (SA), already operating in the cement sector, which turned to the criminal organization headed by Cardiello for the sole purpose of profit, aimed at considerable savings in company costs compared to the legal disposal of the waste produced. Both companies were subjected to preventive seizure.
ACIDS AND SEWAGE SPILLED IN THE VALLO DI DIANO
The criminal organization was found to be particularly dangerous due to the full availability of land owned by the suspects, whose funds were transformed into landfills - mostly made up of sewage composed of acids - extremely harmful for the repercussions on the environment and with incalculable (and perhaps irreparable) alterations to the eco-system. The investigative horizon was necessarily narrowed due to the overriding needs of safeguarding the territory (hence the name Shamar - a Hebrew word whose meaning can be translated as jealously guarding, holding dear, considering precious). It was in fact necessary to prevent the continuous spills from transforming the Vallo di Diano into the new "land of fires" available to organized crime in Campania. In October 2019, 18.000 (eighteen thousand) liters of chemical solvents ready for dumping in the Municipality of Atena Lucana (SA) were intercepted and seized. The dangerousness of such waste was well known to the suspects, one of whom even complained about it on the phone to his accomplices, referring to the fact that the transported liquid had corroded the paint of his vehicle. The subsequent excavation, sampling and analysis operations carried out together with ARPAC therefore allowed to certify that the ground had been poisoned by previous spills.
THE GROUP WANTED TO EXPAND INTO THE PROVINCE OF FOGGIA
A situation that was already clearly evident from the aerial photographs taken with drones, which revealed colored stains in the land subject to the dumping that then successfully guided the operations of Arpac, whose tests highlighted the presence of hazardous special waste falling into the category "HP 14 Ecotoxic". What was found takes on dramatic significance to the extent that the territory concerned is classified as a protected natural area, being part of the Foce Sele - Tanagro Nature Reserve. In this way, the organization was prevented from expanding its radius of action to other sites, partly already identified in the Municipality of Tursi (Mt) and partly the object of a planned expansion still at an embryonic level in the province of Foggia. Solid confirmation of the evidentiary framework already outlined came from the statements provided by one of the accomplices not included in the recipients of the precautionary measure, as well as from the subsequent excavation activities that the DDA intends to start in the coming days.
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