'Ndrangheta, usury and control of the territory: 17 arrests in the "Gallicò" operation in Reggio Calabria. The alleged perpetrators of the Catalano murder arrested. THE NAMES

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

Staff of the State Police and the Provincial Command of the Carabinieri of Reggio Calabria, following investigations coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Reggio Calabria - District Anti-Mafia Directorate directed by the Prosecutor Giovanni Bombardieri, carried out, as part of the operation called "Gallicò ", to two orders for the application of precautionary measures against 18 people (16 in prison, 1 under house arrest and 1 obligation to report to the prosecutor's office) , suspected, for various reasons (and at the state of the proceedings in the preliminary investigation phase and subject to different evaluations in the subsequent phases) of the crimes of mafia association, murder, extortion, usury, illegal possession of weapons, fictitious registration of assets and more. In addition to the recipients of the precautionary measures, a total of 40 individuals are under investigation in the two criminal proceedings .

The first ordinance
Arrests in prison
CANGEMI Antonio 5-4-1988 Reggio Calabria
CARTISANO Carmelo Natale 23-12-1982 Reggio Calabria
CARTISANO Pasquale 17-11-1961 Reggio Calabria
CORSO Mariano Domenico 18-1-1987 Reggio Calabria
CORSO Gabriele 16-5-1993 Reggio Calabria
CRUPI Antonino 14 -1-1983 Reggio Calabria
LARUFFA Antonio 8-11-1995 Reggio Calabria
MARCONESE Rocco 8-5-1984 Reggio Calabria
MARTINO Lorenzo Alberto 21-02-1973 Porto Salvo
UTANO Antonino 22-7-1980 Reggio Calabria

Under house arrest
PENSABENE Antonio 12-27-1997 Reggio Calabria

Gallico's 'Ndrangheta, power vacuums and territorial control
The investigations, conducted by the Flying Squad and the SISCO of the State Police and by the Investigative Unit of the Carabinieri under the directives of the Public Prosecutor's Office, carried out both with classic investigative techniques but also with the most modern interception tools, have allowed us to reconstruct the dynamics and structures of the 'Ndrangheta structure operating in the Gallico territory, reconstructing its use of intimidating acts to impose control over the territory and a widespread extortion system, as well as the wide availability of weapons and the hidden management of various economic enterprises. In the same way, the internal reorganization dynamics activated to fill the power gaps caused by the arrest of top management elements that occurred during the period of the activity were reconstructed, as well as the methods of subsistence for the prisoners, a topic perceived as so relevant as to be subject of correspondence between the latter and the suspects at large.

The alleged perpetrators of the Catalano murder have been arrested
Precisely in relation to the criminal control of the area, significant elements would have emerged from the investigations conducted by the homicide section of the flying squad regarding the murder of Francesco Catalano, which occurred on 14 February 2019, in relation to which two people were arrested, Domenico Corso Mariano and Costel Zlatan . The crime, according to what was reconstructed by the investigations, would be part of the dynamics that characterized, between 2017 and 2020, the conflict for the criminal control of the Gallico district of Reggio Calabria, following the arrest, in July 2018, of Antonino Crupi . In particular, from the investigations conducted into the murder of Catalano it emerged that the man, already convicted of mafia-type criminal association as part of the «Olimpia» operation, attempted to take command of the territory, came into conflict with Domenico Mariano Corso who, already in 2018, had become the main mafia contact in the area. Zlatan, shortly after the murder, lost track of himself in Italy, moving to the United Kingdom, where, this morning, he was tracked down and arrested by the British authorities specially activated via the I-CAN channel of the International Police Cooperation Service.

Usurious loans during the lockdown and forced hiring
The investigations connected to the Catalano murder also revealed a round of money lending at usurious rates, for which 5 subjects were reached by precautionary measures. Some of the victims, owners of commercial establishments, had turned to the suspects to cope with the financial difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown.
Among the extortions alleged against the suspects are those against the managers of a supermarket in the Gallico district, affiliated with a well-known brand, with the imposition of multiple hires before and subsequently the promotion of the wife of one of the suspects.

Still from the point of view of the conditioning of economic activities through extortion, infiltrations have emerged in the baking sector through the imposition of sourcing flour from a specific retailer or the prevention of a fruit shop from marketing bread to avoid competing with the bakery of a suspect. Furthermore, what emerged was the imposition on a construction company to entrust the laying of the iron to a company reported by a suspect.

The seizure of weapons and assets
The investigations also demonstrated that the group under investigation had numerous weapons available, some of which were seized by the Carabinieri soldiers.
At the same time as the personal restrictive measures, the investigating judge ordered the preventive seizure of 4 companies, all based in Reggio Calabria, fictitiously registered in the name of third parties, but in fact fully available to the suspects.