He cried like a child for the beauty, but above all for the huge economic value of an ancient coin that he was holding in his hands.
The tears are from one of the receivers intercepted by the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit (TPC) involved in the investigation Canusium, from the ancient name of Canosa di Puglia (Barletta-Andria-Trani), a leading archaeological centre in Puglia, which over the centuries has been subject to Hellenic influence and welcomed the Romans after the defeat of Cannae by Hannibal's army (216 BC).
From Canosa, with the clandestine excavations, coins, jewels, jugs, skyphos, kantharos, lamps and ceramic castings dating back to between the 4th and 1st century BC were stolen and ended up on the illegal market of archaeological finds, sometimes even sold at auction houses and spread throughout the world.
The man – according to the prosecution – was part of a “criminal and international holding” with ramifications in Basilicata, Abruzzo, Campania and Lazio and inserted in “a parallel and illicit economy” organized in a pyramidal way with tomb raiders at its base: it was they who, between Canosa and some municipalities of Basilicata, identified the areas in which to dig and from which to take away objects of inestimable value.
The finds were then sold to "increasingly sophisticated" receivers, explained Trani prosecutor Francesco Tosto, who coordinated the investigation that led to the execution of 21 precautionary measures.
Four ended up in prison – Carmine Crispino, originally from Cimitile (Naples), Paolo Treviso from Ordona (Foggia), Antonio Tarantino from Canosa di Puglia and Paolo Carella from Lavello (Potenza) – 4 under house arrest and another five were subjected to obligations to sign in and reside. The charges, to varying degrees, are criminal association aimed at clandestine excavation, theft, receiving stolen goods and illicit export of archaeological and numismatic finds.
Overall, there are 51 people under investigation and during the investigation almost 3.600 assets were recovered, including gold, silver and bronze coins from Magna Graecia, Roman and Byzantine mints dating between the XNUMXth and XNUMXrd centuries BC, also recovered in Lavis (Trento).
Each find has a value between 10 and 60 euros. If the base of the association is the tomb raiders, "there is then a double level of receivers: the first has direct contacts with the tomb raiders, the second with international traffickers", said the prosecutor of Trani, Renato Nitti.
“In the operation we also employed the Hunters of Puglia who are specialized in the search for fugitives because, after all, the looted cultural assets are fugitives of culture, they are particularly wanted”, highlighted Andrea Ilari, commander of the TPC group in Rome.
“The art mafia is alive and recovering what has been stolen from abroad is a challenging task”, continued Brigadier General Vincenzo Molinese, commander of the TPC nucleus.
The operation was described as “brilliant” by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, who underlined that “the database of illegally stolen cultural assets has once again proven to be a fundamentally important tool for investigative purposes”.
Article published on May 24, 2023 - 16:45 pm
