THE DIREZIONE INVESTIGATIVA ANTIMAFIA CONFISCATED ASSETS WORTH ABOUT 4 MILLION EUROS FROM A KNOWN OFFENDER WITH PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS OF MARTINA FRANCA

The Direzione Investigativa Antimafia, a directorate of the Department of Public Security, with the operational support of the Questura in Taranto, carried out an order of confiscation of movable and immovable assets, issued by the court in Lecce against a 55-year-old individual of Martina Franca. The offender had already several previous convictions, such as tax evasion, extortion, complicity for theft, receiving stolen goods, drug production, trafficking and possession, drug or psychotropic substances trafficking association, forgery of public seals to be used for documents in the field of public competitions, changeover of money and valuables coming from aggravated robbery.

In December 2020 he was arrested within an important criminal police operation coordinated by the Antimafia District Directorate in Lecce, being considered the head of a drug trafficking organization – cocaine – operating all over Italy.

The confiscation order involved the assets that had already been subject to seizure in 2021 based on the proposal for an asset-related preventive measure, made by the DIA Resident Office in Lecce and signed by the DIA Director and the Public Prosecutor at the Court in Lecce. The proposal had been accepted by the court in Lecce based on the results gathered within complex and widespread asset-related and financial investigations aimed at attacking illicitly gained assets.

The following assets were confiscated: 1 flat, 5 villas, 2 of which with swimming pool, located in the area of Martina Franca (TA) and in the sea town of Torre Canne (BR), 1 restaurant located in Taranto, 1 leisure craft and several luxury vehicles, including vintage cars, with a total estimated value of about 4 million euros.

Lecce, 13 June 2023