The basement at number 34 of Via Parma, in the heart of the Vasto district, owned by Giuseppina Parisi, was the operations center for counterfeit banknotes.
From here they left for all of Europe thanks to an army of people who also provided migrants with those from their countries of origin. A counterfeit 100 euro banknote cost just 8, a 50 euro banknote could be bought for 5 euros.
The gang controlled by Giusppina Parisi and other women Anna Catapano, Nunzia Pitirollo and Anna De Martino (all of whom ended up in prison) was dismantled yesterday by the Carabinieri of the anti-counterfeiting group in a raid that resulted in a total of 9 people being jailed , while 10 others were placed under house arrest and five were banned from residing in Naples.
In Giuseppina Parisi's basement , the hours were continuous from 8,30 am to 19,30 pm, with Saturday and Sunday being holidays.
The banknotes were nearly perfect, fooling even the most discerning eyes and, in some cases, even money-counting machines. The Carabinieri Anti-Counterfeiting Command (NOAM), led by Lieutenant Colonel Lorenzo Marinaccio , operated for months, intercepting and shadowing the money.
The investigation lasted a year, starting on February 11, 2022 , when the police located a warehouse in the city, seizing a total of €288 in counterfeit banknotes, and arrested the first two people in flagrante delicto. A month later, in March 2022, they identified and arrested two French citizens and seized €16 in counterfeit banknotes.
In May, the Carabinieri raided another safe, finding another €175 worth of counterfeit banknotes . In total, nearly half a million euros, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. A multi-million dollar business, considering that for each transaction, the counterfeiters charged approximately 10 percent of the value of each counterfeit note, but they demanded real money for it.
But it was the informer Pasquale Matarazzo who put investigators on the right track . The former Camorra boss from Volla , who operated in the drug trafficking sector—as Il Roma reports—had been involved for years in business with the De Micco clans of Ponticelli, Formicola, and Silenzio, based in San Giovanni a Teduccio. In November 2019, he revealed to DDA investigators the existence of a counterfeit money ring run by Bruno Mascitelli's nephew, Tuccio, who supplied, among others, Geppina, aka Giuseppina Parisi, and Annarella, aka Anna Catapano, both arrested in yesterday morning's raid.
The statements of the repentant Pasquale Matarazzo on the counterfeiters of the Vasto district
“Bruno (Bruno Mascitelli “'o canott”, currently detained boss) confided in me that he had decided to kill Luigi De Micco (boss of the “Bodo” clan of Ponticelli) because he was the boss. He told me this during a meeting in the presence of his nephew… this meeting was held at the home of Mascitelli’s nephew named Tuccio in Vasto. Tuccio has a circulation of counterfeit money and supplies the ngopp 'e mura area and also his niece Geppina with Annarella”.
(in the photo a glimpse of via Parma and in the boxes from the left Giuseppina Parisi, Anna Catapano, Nunzia Pitirollo and Anna De Martino)
List of recipients of the order
GIUSEPPINA PARISI (PRISON)
ANNA CATAPANO (PRISON)
NUNZIA PITIROLLO (PRISON)
ANNA DE MARTINO (PRISON)
SALVATORE SCURTI (PRISON)
SAVERIO BARONE (PRISON)
ENRICO DI DONATO (PRISON)
ANTONIO TUBELLI (PRISON)
EMANUELE LEONE (PRISON)
CARMINE PALMIERI (HOUSE ARREST)
FRANCESCO CAIAZZO (HOUSE ARREST)
EMILIANO PESCE (HOUSE ARREST)
CARLO PERRECA (HOUSE ARREST)
ALBERTO CASTALDO (HOUSE ARREST)
GIOVANNI DANIELE (HOUSE ARREST)
CIRO REGA (HOUSE ARREST)
VALERIO RIPOLI (HOUSE ARREST)
KAMEL MEHDI BOUAZZA (HOUSE ARREST)
SALVATORE SCUTERI (HOUSE GUARDIANS)
CARMELA MASCITELLI (PROHIBITION OF RESIDENCE)
ROBERTO DE LUCA (PROHIBITION OF RESIDENCE)
LUIGI PARISI (PROHIBITION OF RESIDENCE)
ALESSANDRO POLI (PROHIBITION OF RESIDENCE)
LUIGI REGA “MARCO” (NO RESIDENCE)
FRANCESCO PIO SCHERMA (PROHIBITION OF RESIDENCE)
Chronicles of Campania
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