Castellammare, loans at rates up to 300% and threats to debtors: the gang of three loan sharks has been busted.

Castellammare – It wasn't a one-time loan to those in need, but an organized and repeated activity, built precisely on the financial vulnerability of people who, having no alternative, were forced to accept increasingly harsh conditions. This is the picture emerging from the investigation by the Carabinieri of the Castellammare di Stabia Company, which led to the execution of three precautionary measures against three women living between Castellammare and Trecase.

Two of them, a mother and daughter, were placed under house arrest. The third was ordered to report to the judicial police. The charges, variously based on the approach taken by the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor's Office and upheld by the investigating judge, are aggravated usury and aggravated extortion, alleged to have occurred in 2024 and 2025.

Interests that would have reached 300 percent

Above all, the level of interest hypothesized by investigators highlights the gravity of the phenomenon. In some cases, the rates applied were reportedly as high as 300 percent per year, transforming sums initially received to address economic emergencies into debts that were virtually impossible to repay.

According to the investigation, the scheme preyed on the victims' needs. People in dire financial straits would accept severely penalizing conditions in order to obtain immediate liquidity, only to find themselves gradually overwhelmed by the burden of interest.

It is at this stage that, according to investigators, the debt would have taken on an even more disturbing dimension: when the payments were no longer sustainable, threats and violence would have come into play, used to force the debtors to respect the deadlines and to continue paying money.

Registers with names, numbers and deadlines

The investigation apparently began with a seemingly simple element, but it proved crucial. During a house search conducted on the initiative of the Carabinieri, they discovered several ledgers containing notes on numbers, names, and due dates, material that investigators believed to be linked to a possible loan sharking activity.

Along with the ledgers, a large sum of cash was also found, which was subsequently seized because, under the investigation, it was believed to be the possible proceeds of usury.

These notes would have served as a sort of accounting trail of the activity and allowed investigators to identify people, amounts, and deadlines for further investigation. From that point on, the investigation would have gradually reconstructed the relationships between the three women and the alleged victims.

Shadowing, cameras and electronic checks

The prosecution's case was developed through a complex series of investigative activities. The Carabinieri of the Castellammare di Stabia Company's Operational Section, coordinated by the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor's Office, acquired evidence through computerized investigations, analysis of video surveillance systems, observation, control, and shadowing services, in addition to the summary information gathered during the investigation.

A set of findings that, according to investigators, would have allowed them to outline the hypothesis of a usurious activity carried out with a certain stability and aimed primarily at people in conditions of need.

It wasn't just about borrowed money and increased repayments, then. The investigative hypothesis is that of a system in which the victims' financial hardship was the starting point, and their growing inability to repay their debts fueled a spiral that was increasingly difficult to break.

Debt turned into a spiral

It's precisely the dynamics of the alleged activity that make the investigation particularly delicate. Whoever approached the three women for a sum of money would have had to repay it with extremely high interest. But the excessive sums requested would have ended up making it increasingly difficult to meet the deadlines.

According to investigators' reconstruction, it was precisely the failure to pay that triggered the pressure on the debtors. The threats and violence alleged in the investigation were, according to the prosecution, intended to obtain payment of the sums demanded, even when the victims could no longer afford them.

This picture, if confirmed in subsequent procedural phases, would describe a particularly aggressive form of usury: first, the money was granted under prohibitive conditions, then the debt grew, and finally the pressure was exerted on those who could no longer pay.

The operation and precautionary measures

The order was issued by the preliminary investigations judge of the Torre Annunziata Court at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office and executed this morning by the Carabinieri of the Castellammare di Stabia Company.

The mother and daughter were placed under house arrest, while the third suspect was ordered to report to the judicial police.

The investigation, however, cannot be considered concluded with the execution of these measures. The investigations must now allow for a detailed verification of the alleged victims' position, the total amount of money involved, and the actual extent of the usurious transactions alleged by investigators.

It also remains unclear whether all those whose names appear in the registers are actually linked to usury incidents and what the actual scope of the activity the three women are accused of.

The proceedings are currently in the preliminary investigation phase. The three recipients of the precautionary measures are individuals under investigation and, therefore, are to be considered innocent until a final sentence is handed down, in accordance with the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence. The measures implemented are also subject to appeal before the Court of Review.

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