THE DIREZIONE INVESTIGATIVA ANTIMAFIA SEIZED ASSETS IN THE RAGUSA PROVINCE FROM AN ENTREPRENEUR OPERATING IN THE WASTE RECYCLING SECTOR

The Direzione Investigativa Antimafia carried out a seizure order, issued by the Court in Catania – Section Preventive Measures, upon the joint request of the Prosecutor’s Office in Catania and the Director of the D.I.A., against an entrepreneur operating in the sector of plastics trade and waste recycling in the Ragusa province.
The entrepreneur, already sentenced for drugs trafficking, is involved also in other investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office in Caltanissetta as he was an affiliate of a mafia-style organization aimed at committing extortions against farmers. Recently he was arrested upon an order of the Prosecutor’s Office in Catania as he succeeded in monopolizing the collection of abandoned plastics from greenhouses of the Ragusa province, availing himself of the intimidating force of the mafia-type group and the consequent condition of subjection and silence, imposing to the greenhouse farmers the exclusive disposal to one company only.
The person subject to the ablative measure organised his economic activities using the support of high-ranking echelons of the clan Carbonaro-Dominante belonging to the mafia-type organisation dubbed “Stidda”, dominating the Ragusa suburbs since the 80s.
A number of investigations highlighted that in that territory, this criminal group assumed a position of absolute monopoly in the prosperous sector of plastics recycling used in agriculture, so as to pollute the economic tissue.
The Court in Catania – Section Preventive Measures, evaluated positively the elements provided by the Prosecutor’s Office and the D.I.A., and found that the prerequisites for social dangerousness of the entrepreneur were existent so to order the seizure, anticipating the confiscation, of the assets linked to that subject. These comprise 3 companies operating in the sector of plastics trade and recycling, 1 real asset, 3 cars and 1 motorcycle, for a total value of 3.000.000, 00 Euros approx.

Catania, 17 February 2022