'Ndrangheta, bosses De Stefano and Barreca remain in prison: Review confirms ordinances
Saturday, 03 April 2021 18:03

Reggio Calabria - The Reggio Calabria Review Court confirmed the precautionary custody order in prison against the boss Paolo Rosario De Stefano arrested at the end of February in the "Nuovo Corso" operation against the homonymous Archi clan. The investigation, coordinated by the Dda of Reggio Calabria, was conducted by the mobile team and shed light on a series of extortions suffered by the Reggio entrepreneur Francesco Siclari. According to the investigations of the prosecutors Stefano Musolino and Walter Ignazitto, between 2015 and 2018, the victim would have paid "by way of protection money", and in several installments, the sum of 80 thousand euros, corresponding to 2% of the value of the renovations of the very central Corso Garibaldi. A second Siclari extortion it would have undergone for the redevelopment works of Piazza Duomo. The life-sentence boss of Pellaro, Filippo Barreca and Giandomenico Condello also remain in prison, involved, however, in the "Metameria" operation. For them too, the Review Court confirmed the precautionary custody order as it had done in recent days for the suspects Marcello Bellini and Domenico Calabrò.

With the "Metameria" operation, the DDA led by the prosecutor Giovanni Bombardieri crushed the attempt of the boss Barreca to reorganize the ranks of his clan despite being under house arrest. Back in Pellaro, according to the prosecutors, Barreca claimed the territory of his competence through extortion activities, the use of violence and the criminal indications provided to his associates. Even when Barreca went to the hospital for treatment, he took advantage of those moments to organize meetings with the leaders of the other Mafia families and talk about the criminal dynamics that saw him as a protagonist.