Approximately forty thousand euros in cash were seized by the Carabinieri of the provincial command of Cosenza who carried out a search decree, issued by the Prosecutor’s Office of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Catanzaro, concerning the premises of a property located in the historic center of Cetraro. The investigators believed that inside the building Luca Occhiuzzi, accused before the Gup at the Court of Catanzaro for the crime of participation in a mafia-type association, held illicit material.
The profile of the suspect and the investigative context
The provision arose from the continuation of the investigations conducted by the soldiers of the Investigative Unit against the man, detained in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison after being arrested, while on the run, on 15 February 2025, having previously avoided the execution of a precautionary order in prison which saw him investigated for attempted murder aggravated by the mafia method.
The illicit use of cell phones in prison
The investigations, carried out by the soldiers of the Carabinieri, under the direction and coordination of the Public Prosecutor’s Office – District Directorate of Catanzaro, made it possible to detect that Occhiuzzi, although detained, had a mobile phone illicitly used to acquire and transfer information of interest to the relevant Cetrara criminal group.
The mystery of the “blue warehouse” and the discovery of the money
Among the information acquired by the Carabinieri during the examination of the mobile device illicitly used by the young man was the repeated reference to a “blue warehouse”, regarding which, in the conversations he had with a young woman to whom he was linked by a romantic relationship, he expressed relief at the fact that it had not been subject to checks by the police forces.
For this reason, the carabinieri of the investigative unit and of Paola’s company, after having identified the premises to which Occhiuzzi alluded, entered, found and seized cash for almost 40,000 euros, likely proceeds of the criminal activities attributed to the man and to the criminal group to which, in the accusatory hypothesis, he is believed to belong.