According to the lawyers of the agents of the “Falcone Borsellino” group, the four were “the last nail in the wheel of a wagon that moves someone else”
The lawyers of the four policemen Vincenzo Maniscaldi, Giuseppe Di Gangi, German Angel e Maurizio Zerillithey have no doubts about the innocence of their clients. The four appeared today before the preliminary hearing judge of the Court of Caltanissetta, where the four accused of making false statements when they testified in the trial on the misdirection of the investigations into massacre in via d’Amelio which ended, in the second degree, with the statute of limitations for the crime of slander for the former colleagues of the “Falcone Borsellino” group Mario Bo, Fabrizio Mattei and Michele Ribaudo. Today’s hearing was dedicated to the arguments of the lawyers who explained why the policemen, three of them already retired, “should not go to trial”, as requested, however, by the Nisseni prosecutors. For the four policemen the “there is no place to proceed because the fact does not exist“, o “alternatively, the requalification of the conduct, in perjury“. The lawyer is the first to speak Maria Giambrawhich he defends Maurizio Zerilli e German Angel. “We cannot talk about misdirection of events that have already been ‘misdirected’. The misdirection occurred then. It’s as if we wanted to resurrect today an event that has already occurred and occurred. And there have been trials to remedy that fact“, he reiterates in the small courtroom. “If the false statements that are accused of the defendants relate to the facts relating to the massacre in via d’Amelio and therefore to facts that concern the investigations carried out and in the trials celebrated, how could today in the Bo trial mislead a trial and investigations which not only were misled at the time, from which three trials arose, which are the result of the misdirection and genesis of further misdirection?“, explains Zerilli and Tedesco’s lawyer. “When those trials were celebrated – says the lawyer again – the false picture that was constructed during the investigations enters the trial and is supported in the trials. The misdirection occurred when the investigations were directed towards false investigative elements. Three trials were concentrated on the basis of those investigations and the misdirection led to the unjust conviction of people“. During the preliminary hearing, the pm Bonaccorso had accused the policemen, all of whom were present in the courtroom in Caltanissetta today, “of bad faith, reticence and false declarations“. ”The defendants are accused of a series of behaviors which take the form of false declarations and reticence, according to the accusatory approach disguised as ‘I don’t remember’“, the prosecutor said Maurizio Bonaccorso in his speech, which concluded with the request for indictment. All eyes on the service report, signed by Zerilli, after some inspections carried out with the false repentant Vincenzo Scarantino. Document found only after 30 years. “If the discovery of these documents can constitute, from the prosecutor’s point of view, a confirmation of the misdirection on the policeman’s position Maurizio Zerilli what kind of waste can it have? Zerilli who delivers the service note to his manager and then the manager decides not to send it. And we are not interested in the reason why that note was not transmitted. Zerilli is the last nail in a cart wheel that moves someone else“, says the lawyer. “Maurizio Zerilli e German Angel in 1994 they were very young policemen, one just 20 years old and one 30 years old. The note was not found in an office, they passed it on to the manager. What did he do Arnaldo La BarberaI repeat, we do not know the then manager. Allow me to say that on Zerilli’s position, they are irrelevant“. The investigation note to which the lawyer of the two policemen refers is a 30-year-old document found only a year ago by the magistrates of Caltanissetta as part of the investigation into the 4 policemen. On 28, 29 and 30 June 1994 the policemen of the ”Falcone e Borsellino” group who investigated the massacres of ’92, directed by the police commissioner Arnaldo La Barberathey carried out inspections with the false repentant Vincenzo Scarantino. The outcome ended in a report dated 1 July 1994, the existence of which was only recently discovered by chance. Nobody knew about it because there was never a trace in the Borsellino trials. An anomalous annotation given that reference is made to previously unpublished places after three decades of investigations and trials. Forgotten or hidden?. According to the defense, “Zerilli and Tedesco were simple agents who held roles such that they could not in any way participate in purposes of this magnitude“. And he concludes: “We know what happened between Arnaldo La Barbera e Vincenzo Scarantino?“. Then it was the lawyer’s turn Giuseppe Panepintothe inspector’s lawyer Vincenzo Maniscaldi. “It is documented that what Inspector Vincenzo Maniscaldi declared has always been true“, he begins. “Not only is there no possibility of conviction but the charge should not even have been formulated“, he adds. “There is no misrepresentation in the annotation“, claims the lawyer. “On the basis of the documentary data, it is clear and proven that Maniscaldi never denied the truth and never declared anything false – says thelawyer Panepinto – today we are already in a position to say that a trial for an already documented position would be unfair. The prosecutor should have asked for Maniscaldi to be dismissed because his statements were intended to reconstruct the truth“. “From an objective point of view – he adds – there is proof of the truthfulness of the statements made by Maniscaldi and the non-existence of any conduct hypothesized by the prosecutor“. Shortly before the lawyer underlined that “if there was any misdirection it was that of Vincenzo Scarantino“, the false repentant who with his statements had innocent people convicted. He also explains that, “as said by Dia“Maniscalds”it was the historical memory of the Falcone e Borsellino Group”. The last to speak is the lawyer Giuseppe Seminara, who defends the inspector Giuseppe Di Gangi. Who begins by defining Di Gangi “servant of the State who for 40 years, from agent to becoming Chief Superintendent, continues the proportionate career progression, within a story that affected not only members of the Police force but also the judiciary. Di Gangi received commendations, participated in the arrest of fugitives, carried out his service with honor for 40 years, and is free of any criminal prejudice. From 2014 to 2019 it found itself terminated with a request for dismissal. He was subjected to investigation for the same facts that are the subject of this charge, for matters relating to San Bartolomeo al Mare. Di Gangi was dismissed because the fact does not exist, a liberating option“. In the courtroom, at the trial Mario Bo and two other policemen, Di Gangi spoke, in a hearing full of “I don’t remember”, of an episode that occurred in San Bartolomeo al Mare, where the false repentant was located Vincenzo Scarantinothe little boy from Guadagna. “The day before the retraction Scarantino had told the Imperia office staff that he wanted to speak to them urgently. Scarantino told Doctor Bo that he wanted to go back to prison because he no longer wanted to collaborate. I witnessed the discussion between Scarantino and Doctor Bo. We had to handcuff him at home because Scarantino was lunging at the official. In front of his wife and children. I didn’t make any service reports”. Then he explains: “The Superintendent of Police Giuseppe Di Gangi he never pointed a gun in the face of Vincenzo Scarantino“. Il false penitent Scarantinoin front of the prosecutors, at the trial of the other 3 policemen, Mario Bo, Fabrizio Mattei e Michele Ribaudohe said: “In the protected area of San Bartolomeo a Mare that policeman (Di Gangi, ndr) he grabbed me by the neck and put the gun in my mouth. In front of my wife and children“. Thesis always denied by Di Gangi. The hearing was postponed to November 15. On that occasion the preliminary hearing judge David Salvucci will have to decide whether to send the former policemen to trial or not.
Source: AdnKronos
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