They wanted to impose extortion on some wholesalers of the fish market of Salerno the five people arrested at dawn today by the Police, as part of an investigation conducted by the DDA of Salerno.
The defendants are accused, to varying degrees, of attempted extortion aggravated by mafia methods, robbery aggravated by the use of weapons, receiving stolen goods, illegal carrying and possession of a common firearm, as well as possession of hashish-type narcotics for the purpose of dealing.
The investigations arose from an extortion attempt committed against the owner of one of the wholesale outlets. According to the reconstruction, the victim, a trader at the Salerno fish market, received threatening telephone messages in March 2021, after he had been robbed in January.
On that occasion the man had been beaten with an iron tube and had been deprived of a Rolex and 40 thousand euros. The victim had then been summoned to a meeting during which the extortion request had been made explicit to him with a clear mafia method.
Two of the suspects are already detained since, in August 2021, they had been arrested on suspicion of crime of possession of weapons aggravated by mafia methods; another, however, has a criminal record relating to weapons and drugs.
The three, together with another suspect, were identified as responsible for the violent robbery committed against the entrepreneur. One of the two arrested - who in April 2021 had been injured in an ambush -, together with another suspect, allegedly represented to the victim of the attempted extortion that they were operating on behalf of a person who, in the past, was convicted for his membership in the "Panella-D'Agostino" clan.
The Prosecutor's Office, however, did not find serious evidence of guilt against the latter, who was however arrested for possession and sale of hashish. The judge finally issued a precautionary measure against one of the suspects for the crime of possession of common firearms.
Article published on March 13, 2023 - 19pm
