The accusations against Pietro Ioia, the guarantor of the prisoners of Napoli arrested this morning by the Carabinieri on orders of the DDA.
Article Key Points
Ioia brought drugs and cell phones to prison in exchange for money that he then shared with his accomplices but also with other inmates who took care of sorting the smartphones and drugs in the cells. Among those arrested, with the benefit of house arrest, there are also his wife Maria Cardamone Maresca and another woman. “Now I'll see if I can get two more Cosarielli in there, around Christmas time… I have to get that guy's scooter too.”
The person who suggested introducing a couple of cell phones into the Poggioreale prison in Naples to raise money to buy his son a scooter for the Christmas holidays is Pietro Ioia, guarantor of the rights of private individuals or those with limited personal freedom in the Municipality of Naples, who was arrested by the Carabinieri along with seven other people on charges of having set up a criminal organization aimed at introducing drugs, cell phones and other objects into prison in exchange for money.
The conversation intercepted by the Carabinieri of Castello di Cisterna on December 16, 2021 sees Ioia and his daughter as interlocutors, who asks him for 500 euros. On the following December 23, the guarantor of prisoners of the Municipality of Naples actually - according to what emerges from the investigations - delivers the cell phones.
All the accusations against Pietro Ioia: 10 thousand euros of hashish also delivered
Eight people, including the guarantor of the rights of private individuals or those with limited personal freedom in the Municipality of Naples, were likely contributing to fueling drug dealing in the Poggioreale prison. Pietro Ioia, for which the investigating judge of Naples, Valentina Giovanniello, ordered the arrest in prison. Among the episodes documented by the Carabinieri of Castello di Cisterna there is also the delivery of 10 thousand euros of hashish, carried out by Ioia, in December 2021, during an interview.
According to what emerges from the investigations, Iia he delivered the drugs to the inmates Nicola Donzelli and Antonio De Maria (both arrested) who, subsequently, proceeded to sell them to other inmates. The sum of money received, 10 thousand euros, was to be divided between the two inmates and Ioia himself.
In total, eleven people are under investigation, including Ioia's wife. The judge ordered prison for Pietro Ioia but also for Sonia Guillari and Massimiliano Murolo, considered to be the leaders of the criminal association, for the prisoners Nicola Donzelli, Antonio De Maria and Vincenzo Castiello. House arrest instead concerns Maria Cardamone Maresca (Donzelli's wife) and Grazia Pages who delivered the cell phones to be introduced into the prison to Sonia Guillari.
The accusations against Pietro Ioia, there are videos that incriminate him: hundreds of euros for each delivery
There are videos, recorded during the investigations by the Carabinieri of Castello di Cisterna also thanks to the collaboration of the Management of the prison of Naples Poggioreale and the Penitentiary Police, which document the passage of cell phones and drugs (hashish and cocaine) from the hands of Pietro Ioia, arrested this morning by the Carabinieri, to those of the inmates.
According to investigators, Ioia pocketed a few hundred euros for each delivery, which took place during the interviews. However, this is a percentage of the sums that the dismantled organization pocketed from the families of the prisoners to deliver the material. The money to the guarantor was paid by one of the identified members of the criminal association.
Overall, there are about ten deliveries documented by the investigators. In addition to Pietro Ioia, 63 years old, for whom the judge ordered the precautionary measure of prison, ended up under arrest, between prison and house arrest, Massimiliano Murolo, 42 years old; Sonia Guillari, 47 years old; Nicola Donzelli, 36 years old; Maria Maresca Cardamone, 32 years old; Antonio De Maria, 34 years old; Vincenzo Castello, 38 years old.
"The news is sensational. The guarantor for prisoners of the Municipality of Naples, Pietro Ioia, appointed by the former mayor Luigi De Magistris and confirmed by the current Council, has reportedly been arrested on charges of having introduced drugs and cell phones into prison. While waiting to know the results of the investigations in more detail and for the judiciary to do its job, we cannot help but recall the doubts that were raised in unsuspecting times regarding this poorly thought-out appointment and more of an ideological/propaganda effect than determined by objective and objective evaluations and by a curriculum adequate to the role".
This is stated by the parliamentarian of the League Jacopo Morrone. Morrone hopes that the Neapolitan Council "takes note of the very serious accusations made against Ioia, relieves him of the delicate task and replaces him to immediately guarantee a correct, transparent and balanced performance of the role of Guarantor in the competent penitentiary institutions".
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“A shocking story that forces us to change pace”. This is how the National Guarantor of the rights of persons deprived of personal liberty Mauro Palma intervenes on the arrest of Pietro Ioia, Guarantor of detained persons in Naples. In recalling that there is no “institutional connection between his role and that of the figures that the individual Administrations territorially appoint”, Palma recalls having “repeatedly urged over the years the adoption of 'Guidelines' to indicate parameters of independence, professionalism and integrity that the Administrations themselves could follow in the delicate identification of such figures”.
Palma also points out that he has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Association of Italian Municipalities for the final drafting and dissemination of these 'Guidelines', now in the process of final approval.
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“Regardless of any assessment of the ongoing investigation that led to the restrictive measures today and in the strong institutional hope that the Guarantor of the Municipality of Naples can demonstrate his lack of involvement in the facts, as well as, obviously, in full respect of the autonomy of local authorities”, Palma now hopes that “we will arrive at an organic structuring of the respective tasks and perimeters of institutional relations that will give the positive experience carried out in these years a recognizable physiognomy of institutional responsibility”.
The law also underlines that the National Guarantor is entrusted with the task of "promoting and encouraging collaborative relationships with territorial guarantors, or with other institutional figures of whatever name they may be called".
It does not therefore also entrust him with the control function. "In this spirit of collaboration, the National Guarantor, designated by Italian law also as its own 'National Prevention Mechanism' within the UN, continues its action - he concludes - distinct from that of similar territorial figures characterized by similar names".
"The arrest of the guarantor of prisoners in Naples is an ugly story that once again turns the spotlight on the situation in our prisons. The judiciary will shed full light on what happened. But I remember as if it were yesterday the unruly attacks of the regional guarantor of prisoners against the penitentiary police officers accused without foundation of introducing cell phones and other things into prison.
It was May 3, we were discussing in the Regional Council of Campania precisely the annual report of the guarantor and on that occasion I remembered the many agents who work in difficult conditions, with professionalism and in compliance with the rules. I like to remember it even today. The pillory is never acceptable”. Thus the deputy of the League, Gianpiero Zinzi.
Article published on 18 October 2022 - 17:33
