THE DIA SEIZED ASSETS WORTH OVER 10 MILLION EUROS FROM AN AFFILIATE OF THE ‘NDRANGHETA IN EMILIA

The Direzione Investigativa Antimafia carried out a seizure order issued by the Section Preventive Measures of the Court in Bologna, upon a proposal from the DIA Director, against a suspected affiliate of the ‘ndrangheta operating in Emilia-Romagna.

In 2018, the Court in Reggio Emilia sentenced the felon, reached by a preventive arrest order in January 2015 in the framework of an Operation named “Aemilia”, to 19 years in prison. The sentence, after the appeal, dropped to 13 years for mafia-type association and illegal detention of arms and ammunitions.

As ascertained during the investigations carried out under the direction of the Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia in Bologna, and confirmed by the declarations of a number of cooperating witnesses, he was to be a “public face” of the mafia-type association. As successful entrepreneur, his task was to operate as access key for other affiliates to entrepreneurial and institutional circles

Further evidence of guilt emerged from the checks carried out by the DIA, as confirmed by the Court in Bologna, highlighting a significant disproportion between the declared income and the accumulated wealth.

The seizure order concerned two companies operating in the building sector, 71 real estate assets located in the provinces of Reggio Emilia, Brescia and Crotone, 2 vehicles and a number of bank relationships for a total value of over 10 million euros.

The operational outcome is part of the  institutional activities aimed at attacking the illicitly gained assets which are directly or indirectly linked to criminal activities, thus protecting the healthy sector of the national economy.

Bologna, 2 February 2022