A bottle full of ethyl alcohol and a clear message on a card with a serious, if ungrammatical, threat: "Get it right I've blown you up and find a friend." It is the intimidation found, in March 2019, by clans linked to the Santapaola-Ercolano 'family' in front of the Belpasso headquarters of the king of 'nougats', Giuseppe Condorelli, who became famous, as well as for the quality of his confectionery products , also for Leo Gullotta's TV commercial: "Cavalier Condorelli was a real pleasure ...". A threat that has not 'bent' the businessman who denounced the attempted extortion to the carabinieri.
As he and his father had done in other similar cases in the past. The episode emerged as part of the investigation 'Under check' of the DDA of Catania which resulted in the blitz of the carabinieri of the Etna provincial command with 40 arrests.
"It pays to denounce - says Giuseppe Condorelli - I have always done it with conviction. We entrepreneurs have obligations, including social ones, and we cannot fail to comply with them. We must have faith in the institutions and in the police. Fear? Of course there is always a risk, especially when you have a family, I have a wife and two small daughters and I think of them. But if you want to eradicate this malaplant - he reiterates - there is only one way: .
Also for the future of my family, of my land. Legality is an indispensable prerequisite for creating a new and healthy economy. Congratulations to magistrates and carabinieri for their commendable work. "
The investigations of the 'Under check' operation of the carabinieri of the provincial command of Catania disrupted three clans linked to Cosa Nostra Etna with 40 people arrested, 10 of which placed under house arrest. the 'lighthouse' of the Dda of Catania, rekindled in October 2017, the activities, in Paternò and Belpasso, of the historic mafia clans Alleruzzo, Assinnata and Amantea and their leaders linked to the Santapaola-Ercolano 'family' who exclusively managed the traffic of drugs and extortion in the 'home zone'.