The third section of the Council of State with a detailed sentence (41 pages) confirmed the dissolution due to mafia infiltration of the elective bodies of the Municipality of Stefanaconi, in the Vibo area, rejecting the appeal of the former mayor Salvatore Solano (former president of the Province of Vibo) and other former administrators.
The “serious damage to the interests of the community, the serious pollution and deterioration of the municipal administration with loss of credibility of the local institution, widespread bad management and a clear absence of legality, as well as concrete, unambiguous and relevant elements regarding connections of the administrators with organized crime of the mafia type” were confirmed. The Council of State, confirming the sentence of the TAR and the dissolution report, then highlights that the figure of the former mayor Salvatore Solano “appears unquestionably to have colluded with prominent elements of organized crime” since from the “documents it appears that Solano held a leading role aimed at favoring the exponents of organized crime and their interests”, with a “functional subordination of Solano with respect to the D’Amicos and a relationship of contiguity of the mayor which also continued with the functions of president of the Province of Vibo”.
The Carabinieri and the police then reported that Solano “entertains contraindicated associations, so much so that he usually associates with individuals attributable to organized crime” and the dissolution report exposed “a long list of acquaintances and controls of the members of the elective bodies of the Municipality of Stefanaconi”. For the prefect, it is also proven that the former mayor Solano obtained electoral support in the provincial elections of October 2018 from entrepreneurs – the D’Amicos – believed to be affiliated with the ‘Ndrangheta” and assumes relevance the “submission of the aforementioned administrator Solano to various proceedings for the crimes of embezzlement and abuse of office and referral of the same for defamation, violation of environmental legislation and fraud”. Solano’s first cousins, the entrepreneurs Giuseppe and Antonio D’Amico, were sentenced to 16 and 15 years for mafia crimes and also for the Council of State “their explicit support” for Solano and “the discussion with him of issues relating to the criminal dynamics of the territory” appear to be proven. In just one year there were 82 direct assignments of public works without a tender, of which 19 ended up with companies «found to be contiguous to mafia environments with the administrative structure of the Municipality of Stefanaconi being permeable to the influences of criminal organizations».