“The fact does not exist”: with this formula the Court of Naples North acquitted Luigi Abbate, the 60-year-old worker from Calvizzano who, according to investigators, on behalf of the Pezzella clan had asked, together with two other people, for a bribe from the entrepreneur who owned the company that was carrying out renovation work at the San Giovanni di Dio hospital in Frattamaggiore.
The judges (president Luigi Buono, judges Lucia Ferraro and Elvira Terranova) accepted the requests of the lawyers Alfredo Sorge and Caterina Mondillo and acquitted the defendant from the charge of attempted aggravated extortion, for whom the public prosecutor had requested nine years of imprisonment. They also ordered the release of Abbate, who had been detained in Secondigliano for almost a year.
“We are satisfied with the outcome of the trial – declared the lawyers Sorge and Mondillo – which was able to ascertain the non-existence of any charges. The trial explored every aspect of the facts and clearly highlighted the correctness of Abbate's work, who, it was ascertained, carried out his work duties as the person in charge of the maintenance of the hospital's systems with the utmost integrity, in the interest of the safety of the workers and patients of the Frattamaggiore hospital".
Abbate was arrested by the Carabinieri in early March 2022, as part of an anti-Camorra investigation by the Naples District Anti-Mafia Directorate.
Article published on 10 February 2023 - 18:20
