Blitz against gangs, prosecutor ‘occupied spaces left by another clan’

(ANSA) – CATANZARO, 07 NOV – “The Cracolici gang of Maida has occupied the spaces left free by the Anello gang following the Imponimento operation”. This was stated by the acting prosecutor of Catanzaro Vincenzo Capomolla, illustrating the details of the operation which this morning led to the arrest of 59 people. A territory of expansion, that of the clan, which reached as far as Cortale, Lamezia and Girifalco, a “hinge territory between the provinces of Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia”, explained Colonel Giuseppe Mazzullo, provincial commander of the Catanzaro Carabinieri. The organization was also dedicated to the exploitation of forest resources in the municipalities of the internal areas of Catanzaro. The Cracolici, it is written in the precautionary measures order, “maintained relationships of a corrupt nature with some members of the police forces, such as Vincenzo Pulice, commander of the Maida Carabinieri Station, and the soldiers of the Girifalco Forestry Carabinieri Station, from whom he received bland if not non-existent controls in the forest cutting sector in the area in which he operated and in the cultivation of hemp sativa plants”. Antonio Schiccitano, already in service at the Carabinieri Forestry Station Command in Girifalco, is also accused of external complicity. “The gang, thanks to relations with the Crotone clans – said Capomolla – had also created a plantation in Maierato. In some cases the gang made use of abettors ready to give false testimony to exonerate the suspects”, declared the prosecutor. Among these there is a suspect, Moreno Mastrantuono, who had “Palermo” tattooed on his arm, i.e. the nickname of all the Cracolici of Maida and Maierato, due to their Sicilian origins. “In less than two years of investigation – explained the commander of the Lamezia Terme Carabinieri Group Gianluca Zara – 4,600 marijuana plants were seized. The investigation starts from the arrest of a small-time drug dealer in 2021. A banal check that allowed investigators to open a glimpse into the larger network that was hidden behind drug dealing in Lamezia Terme”. (HANDLE).