(ANSA) - CATANIA, 04 MAY - Groups linked to Cosa Nostra have been disrupted by an operation by the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Catania with the execution of a precautionary custody order against 40 people in the Etna capital, in Syracuse, Cosenza and Bologna .
The crimes hypothesized, for various reasons, are mafia association, drug trafficking, extortion and criminal association aimed at committing counterfeits and scams against INPS. The investigations, coordinated by the Catania DDA, made it possible to reconstruct the organization of the mafia groups of the Santapaola-Ercolano family in Paternò and Helpasso. According to the prosecution, they managed a thriving drug trafficking, in particular marijuana and cocaine, but also extortion, money laundering, stolen goods and would have created a situation of serious conditioning of the local economy. Among the top elements, the Dda reconstructs, there was the boss Santo Alleruzzo who, despite a life sentence for double murder, mafia and drug trafficking who is serving a prisoner in Rossano (Cosenza),he took advantage of the award permits to return to his country of origin, Paternò (Catania), where during mafia summits he continued to give orders and directives for the management of the affairs of the clan. (HANDLE).