An inter-force anti-mafia blitz led to the execution of 37 precautionary measures against members of and suspected of belonging to the Tortorici mafia family.
The operation took place not only in the Messina area but also in the provinces of Syracuse, Enna, Rovigo, Catania and Gorizia.
The investigation is coordinated by the Messina DDA.
The provision follows the results of the "Nebrodi" operation of January 2020 which shed light on the dense interconnection of criminal interests on European funds and which led to the arrest of over 100 people, 91 of which on 31 October 2022.
The court of Patti (ME), in the first degree trial, issued a sentence of a total of 600 years of imprisonment and in a few weeks the second degree trial will begin before the Court of Appeal of Messina.
Also making use of the declarations of three collaborators of justice, belonging to the "Batanesi" mafia group, it was possible to reconstruct the existence of the "Tortoriciana family" made up of the Bontempo Scavos and the Batanesi, accused of extortion and aggravated fraud to the detriment of the Union European and Agea.
Groups that controlled the cultivation, purchase and retail trade of drugs which took place on the Tyrrhenian side of the province of Messina, between Tortorici, Sinagra, Capo d'Orlando and Rocca di Capri Leone.
A Calabrian company involved in the construction of the methane pipeline in the river between the municipalities of Mistretta and Santo Stefano di Camastra would have been forced to hand over 4 thousand euros for the Christmas and Easter holidays each year, starting from 2015 and until 2018.
Some private individuals were forced to give up land to be used for grazing.
21 orders of precautionary custody in prison were carried out, 2 under house arrest and 14 orders of suspension from the exercise of entrepreneurial activities.
At the same time as the execution of the precautionary measures, the preventive seizure of 349 Agea securities, defined as "toxic", and of sums exceeding 750 thousand euros was carried out on the accounts of 8 companies deriving from disbursements relating to the 2015-2020 agricultural campaigns.
The investigations confirm that community fraud continues to represent one of the main means of illicit financing of mafia organizations (together with extortion and drug trafficking), more attractive because it exposes the perpetrators to fewer risks.
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