The Catanzaro DDA has closed the circle on the Manfredi-Nicoscia gang of Isola Capo Rizzuto. Prosecutor Pasquale Mandolfino served the notice of conclusion of investigations to 29 people involved in the “Folgore Blizzard” operation which began on March 25th with 17 arrests carried out by the police. The investigations would have shed light on the new recruits of the clan led by Pasquale Manfredi, known as Scarface, son of Mario murdered in 2005, who had reorganized himself after the arrests and convictions that decimated the island’s ‘Ndrangheta. According to the investigators, Manfredi took over the reins of the group by dictating from prison the directives that the affiliates had to follow.
The mafia organisation, according to investigators, on the one hand continued to dictate the law in the relevant territory through extortion and usury. While on the other hand it would have managed to extend its tentacles into Lombardy, Alto Adige and Veneto to do business. In fact, in Milan one of the gang’s contacts would have been Antonio Bruno, believed to be the right-hand man of Mimmo Pompeo, the boss of the Arena clan in Lombardy who died in 2017. Bruno, claims the prosecutor, would have allowed the members of the Isola Capo Rizzuto clans to benefit from consultants for compliant appraisals as well as lending them money.
But the boss of Papanice, Mico Megna, is also under accusation, who must answer with 8 other people for an attempted extortion that took place in 2022.
The 29 suspects
Antonia Arena, Antonio Francesco Arena, Antonio Arena, Salvatore Arena, Antonio Bruno, Francesco Anselmo Cavarretta, Antonietta Corda, Salvatore Gareri, Francesco Garofalo, Antonio Giardino, Luigi Manfredi, Marilena Manfredi, Pasquale Manfredi, Antonio Masciari, Francesco Masciari, Luigi Masciari, Mico Megna, Mario Megna, Giulia Mercoledisanto, Luigi Morelli, Pasquale Morelli, Nicola Pittella, Giuseppe Porcelli, Antonio Ruggiero, Carlo Alberto Savoia, Giuseppe Verterame, Luigina Verterame, Vincenzo Verterame and Antonio Viola.