Mafia, blitz with 18 arrests in the Catanese: former MP Pippo Nicotra in prison

Blitz against the Santapaola-Ercolano clan at dawn between Acireale and Aci Catena. Among the eighteen arrested in the operation of the carabinieri called "Aquila" there is also Raffaele 'Pippo' Nicotra former deputy UDC then passed in the ranks of the Democratic Party.

Among the charges for the 18 arrested criminal association mafia, extortion with the aggravating of the Mafia method, political electoral exchange mafia, attempted murder, detention for the purpose of drug dealing and illegal possession of weapons.

The crime alleged against Nicotra is the vote of mafia political electoral exchange. The military of Acireale investigated some electoral consultations in which there would be the contribution of exponents of the Catania family of Cosa nostra. Raffaele Pippo Nicotra was taken to prison in execution of a precautionary measure issued by the investigating magistrate at the request of the Catania district attorney's office.

The investigations, which were conducted by the investigative nucleus of the provincial command and the Carabinieri company of Acireale, would have allowed, inter alia, to ascertain, also thanks to the statements of some collaborators of justice, that the suspects were part of two groups historians of the Catania family. According to the collaborators of justice, the suspects would have imposed the lace against several local entrepreneurs over a period of several years.