‘NDRANGHETA: AIDING AND ABETTING BOSSES WHILE ON THE RUN, 8 ARRESTS

(ANSA) – REGGIO CALABRIA, MARCH 10 – Eight people were arrested by the Reggio Calabria mobile squad accused of having favored the inaction of the boss of the ‘Ndrangheta Giuseppe Pelle, known as “Gambazza”, considered one of the alleged leaders of the homonymous cosca of San Luca. Six of the arrested are relatives of Pelle, accused of having helped him escape the execution of a prison order under which he had to serve a residual sentence of 2 years and 5 months in relation to a definitive sentence for mafia association. The other two involved in the operation are not relatives of the boss, but would have been his supporters anyway.

The operation conducted by the Police was called “Defender”, from the name of the off-road vehicle on board which Giuseppe Pelle, while on the run, was accompanied to the Condofuri hideout where he had found refuge and where he was arrested on 6 April 2018 by same mobile team of Reggio Calabria and the Sco. The precautionary custody orders carried out as part of the operation were issued by the district magistrate of Reggio Calabria at the request of the Public Prosecutor, Giovanni Bombardieri, and the Deputy Prosecutor, Giuseppe Lombardo. The detention in prison was arranged for his wife, Marianna Barbaro, aged 55, and two sons of Pelle, Antonio, aged 35, and Francesco, aged 31; for the son-in-law, Giuseppe Barbaro, aged 36, and for his nephew Antonio Pelle, also 36 years old. Another daughter of Pelle, on the other hand, Elisa, aged 35, was granted house arrest. Also arrested and taken to prison are 51-year-old Giuseppe Morabito and 43-year-old Girolamo Romeo, who, according to the accusation, had made available the property where Pelle spent his hiding. (HANDLE).