Four arrests for mafia association between Italy and Brazil

This morning, the Yellow Flames of the Palermo Provincial Command executed an order for the application of precautionary measures, issued by the Investigating Judge of the Local Court at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office – Anti-Mafia District Directorate, against four persons, three of whom were held in custody in prison and one under house arrest. The preventive seizure of nine companies active in the real estate and restaurant sectors, located in Italy, Switzerland, Hong Kong and – for the most part – Brazil, as well as sums of money in excess of 350,000 euros, was also ordered. The suspects are charged to varying degrees with crimes of external competition related to the mafia, extortion, money laundering and money laundering, fraudulent transfer of assets, aggravated by the aim of facilitating important mafia families. The operation is part of the investigation that led to the arrest in Brazil on August 13 of an entrepreneur and the seizure, in the same state, of financial resources and assets worth up to 50 million euros. Both measures were ordered by the 2nd Federal Court of Rio Grande Do Norte (Brazil) following a study developed from research findings obtained by the aforementioned DDA of Palermo and shared with the Brazilian authorities as part of a joint investigation team that was established with the involvement of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate and Eurojust. With this morning’s activities, including at national level, the investigations have reached a crucial point.

What emerges, based on the evidence collected so far, is that a man of honor, former regent of the Pagliarelli District, with the complicity of the entrepreneur and using the services of expert professionals from Northern Italy, lucrative business initiatives are said to have been started in Brazil. , investing large amounts of capital resulting from the criminal activities of Cosa Nostra and in particular of the district to which he belonged. This also included the proceeds of several outrageous acts against entrepreneurs from Palermo. According to what the investigation revealed, the money was transferred from Italy to Brazil through complex money laundering mechanisms, in many cases passing through current accounts abroad. More than 500 million euros: according to an initial estimate, this is the value of the companies that the suspects have managed over time, also with the help of front men. Based on these principles, the investigating judge established the existence of precautionary measures for four persons involved in the illegal behavior.