The military personnel of the Provincial Commands of the Guardia di Finanza of Savona and Genoa, with the assistance of men and resources from SCICO, ROAN of Genoa, the Imperia Group, the Companies of Sanremo and Vigevano, have executed an order for the application of the measure of precautionary custody in prison issued by the Judge for preliminary investigations at the Court of Genoa, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office - District Anti-Mafia and Anti-terrorism Directorate, to which a public prosecutor from the Public Prosecutor's Office of Savona was also applied (where the investigation originated before being transferred for jurisdiction to the DDA of Genoa), against seventeen people.
There are 13 of Italian nationality, 4 of Albanian nationality. Ten of the arrested suspects are accused of being members of a criminal association operating since July 2019 and operating in the province of Savona:
Aimed at the purchase, importation (from South America), transportation, possession and sale of narcotic substances such as cocaine and hashish. The group had warehouses in which to place loads of narcotic substances;
But also means of transport for travel and for the transportation of the narcotic substance, in particular cars equipped with a "double bottom" and instruments for communicating with each other (encrypted cell phones, connected to servers located in France), used by some members of the association even inside the prison where they were detained to communicate with the outside (in particular, one of these carried messages aimed at dissuading other members who were arrested from collaborating with justice).
Based on what was ascertained during the investigations carried out by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Savona and the GICO of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Genoa, with the support of the Central Service for Investigation into Organized Crime (SCICO) of the Guardia di Finanza and with the coordination of the Central Directorate for Anti-Drug Services (DCSA).
the association:
a) also provided other criminal organizations that purchased large quantities of narcotics and shipped them to Italy, with destination the Port of Vado Ligure, with a service for the recovery and distribution of drug shipments;
b) ensured the payment of legal expenses of the members of the association or of those who worked for it who were arrested and the support of their families;
c) made use of:
– of an associate, an employee of a freight and parcel transport company operating within the port of Vado Ligure (which turned out to be completely unrelated to the events which are the subject of this investigation) with crane operator duties, who provided information on the position of the containers in which the loads of cocaine from South America landed at the port of Vado Ligure were hidden, even moving them within the port area if necessary, in order to facilitate the recovery phases of the narcotic from the containers on behalf of the organisation;
– of an external competitor (Mario Palamara), who during his time as a fugitive procured large shipments of cocaine from South America which landed at the port of Vado Ligure: in particular, he facilitated the shipment of 84 blocks of cocaine, 69 of which were recovered inside a refrigerated container at the port area of Vado Ligure on 17.3.2020;
d) had taken steps to start a company importing fruit from South America to be used for shipping cocaine in cover loads.
The defendants are also charged with 42 other episodes of purchase, possession and sale, as well as importation from South America of large quantities of cocaine (over 180 kg), hashish (over 40 kg), marijuana (over 70 kg) and two attempts to import and purchase over 200 kg of cocaine and 300 kg of hashish.
The investigations were launched following a series of recoveries between 2019 and 2020, of quantities of drugs equal to over 180 kg of cocaine in the port of Vado Ligure (which turned out to have been identified by members of the organization as a landing and distribution facility for drugs), hidden in containers transported by ships coming from South America and destined for redistribution in various locations.
In consideration of the number of seizures made and the quantities of drugs found, the investigations focused (through the examination of the video surveillance cameras located inside the port) on identifying who, among those who worked inside the port, could allow today's suspects to identify and open the containers where the drugs had been hidden and recover them.
The evidence was acquired through interceptions of communications (including between those present, inside cars) and the acquisition and analysis of communications between the suspects (which took place mostly on the Encrochat and SkyEcc platforms), thanks to the collaboration of Eurojust and the French authorities receiving European investigation orders.
There are also some representatives of well-known 'ndrangheta gangs among those arrested during the 'Baluardo' operation conducted by the Guardia di Finanza of Savona and Genoa, with men and vehicles from Scico, Roan of Genoa, the Imperia Group, the Sanremo and Vigevano Companies.
These are the names of those arrested: the Calabrians Alessandro Morabito, 44 years old, Alessandro Pronestì, 49 years old, Mario Palamara, 54 years old, considered a leading member of the 'ndrangheta, a fugitive for a long time, arrested in Spain on 11 October 2022 and extradited to Italy. And also the brothers Domenico and Giovanni Roccadoro, 37 and 38 years old, from Savona as are Christian Di Staso, 43 years old, Francesco Abela, 44 years old, Roberto Adinolfi, 46 years old, Alessandro Folchi, 31 years old, Cristian Abate, 44 years old.
Also arrested were Carmine Insolito, 63 years old, from Caivano (Naples) but a long-time resident in the Savona area, the Albanian citizens Nik Dauti, 44 years old, Nerdojan Hoxha, 30 years old, Shllegaj Saimir 37 years old and Shllegaj Engli, 33 years old and finally Luca Rinaldi, 26 years old from Sanremo. A seventeenth person is a fugitive.
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