MAFIAS
'Ndrangheta in Imperia, 27 arrests for mafia and drug trafficking. Two minors also in prison: "They had important positions in the group"
by FQ | NOVEMBER 13, 2023
Since dawn on Monday, men from the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza have carried out a precautionary custody order against 27 people for drug trafficking and mafia-style criminal association . The provision was issued by the investigating judge as part of an investigation coordinated first by the Imperia Prosecutor's Office and then by the Genoa Anti-Mafia District Directorate : 24 arrested people were placed in prison, while the remaining three were placed under house arrest. Seventeen of the suspects – we read in a note signed by the Genoa prosecutor, Nicola Piacente – are accused of being members of a criminal association directed by members of the De Marte-Gioffrè ' Ndrangheta family : the group originates from Seminara (Reggio Calabria) and connected to 'ndrangheta articulations resident in Calabria, but for years rooted in the Diano Marina area (Imperia). According to investigators, the organization has been operating in the province of Imperia since 2020 and deals with the purchase, cultivation, transport, resale and transfer of cocaine, hashish and marijuana.
The investigations have reconstructed how the group had various homes used for meetings and negotiations with drug suppliers and buyers, cryptophones for communications and for the delivery of money and a gun: the suspects are accused of 56 episodes of purchase, sale, transport of quantities of cocaine and marijuana and cultivation of marijuana. The narcotic, it appears, was also transported on buses on the Reggio Calabria-Ventimiglia route . Among the alleged crimes - all aggravated by the mafia method - are also injuries, thefts, extortion and threats against buyers to force them to repay their debts. The interceptions and shadowing conducted by the Financial Police revealed that the boss Domenico Gioffré , "despite being restricted to house arrest, together with Giovanni De Marte and other members of the De Marte family", had managed "to give life to a thriving business of drug trafficking in the province of Imperia, thanks to direct supplies from the Gioia Tauro plain, making use of privileged channels adjacent to the 'ndrangheta". The operational and decision-making center of the association was the residence of the De Marte family in Diano Castello.
Among those arrested there are also two boys, minors at the time of the disputed facts, for whom prison was ordered at the request of the Genoa prosecutor for minors Tiziana Paolillo . In a note, the magistrate explains how the investigations revealed that the two, "despite their young age, were inserted with stability, very specific roles and important positions within the association, of which they knew the aims and methods attributable to the mafia organizations.