Naples. "It's often thought that scams targeting the elderly are the result of an almost artisanal criminal activity, yet in this investigation we uncovered the existence of a highly organized group that left nothing to chance, whose leaders believed they could go unpunished because they believed the elderly victims were incapable of recognizing the perpetrators of the scam. And seeing the elderly so humiliated was heartbreaking."
This was stated by the Prosecutor of NAPLES North Maria Antonietta Troncone during the press conference held in the offices of the Prosecutor's Office in Aversa on the investigation, conducted by the Carabinieri of Caivano, which dismantled the organization dedicated to scamming elderly people throughout Italy; alongside her were the prosecutors in charge of the case, Annamaria Lucchetta and Valeria Vinci, and the commander of the Carabinieri Group of Castello di Cisterna, Paolo Leoncini.
. “Against these increasingly frequent episodes, laws that are more adequate to the gravity of the phenomenon are needed,” Troncone said. The wiretaps of the heads of the criminal organization were crucial in the investigation, made possible because criminal association was contested.
But the prosecutor is keen to underline that "the decision to contest the crime of association was not a way to be able to access the interception activity, as the GIP himself confirmed the correctness of what we found. There are many episodes of fraud and robberies against the elderly, but they often remain isolated cases, while the great merit of this investigation was precisely to have grouped together cases that were apparently not connected to each other, because they occurred throughout Italy, and which instead were committed by members of the same criminal group.
We started from an episode that occurred in Lusciano, in the territory of our jurisdiction, and then gradually acquired from other Public Prosecutor's Offices files with cases of fraud and robberies of the elderly. And in the end the existence of this association that operated in Campania and in the rest of the country came to light".
Troncone also highlights that thanks to these crimes, some members of the organization have become rich: one bought a pizzeria in the center of Naples, another owns numerous properties and during the search of the suspects we found significant sums of money".
Colonel Leoncini emphasized that "in these cases you must not trust appearances, because no public official or police officer will ever show up at your home to ask for money. You must call 112 immediately, we repeat this also during the periodic meetings with the elderly that we do in the area".
Chronicles of Campania
Elderly scams: Carabinieri appeal to family members: "An extra phone call can save your loved ones."
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