The Court of Messina – Preventive Measures Section – has adopted, at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, two preventive measures confiscation of illegally acquired assets, ensuring the state coffers a total amount of over 12 million euros. Attacking illicitly accumulated assets is one of the main objectives pursued by this Prosecutor’s Office. To this end, the “Preventive Measures Group” was created, which deals with ordinary and anti-mafia preventive measures, including patrimonial ones.
The first confiscation
In the first case, the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate executed a provision with which it was the large assets of the accountant Michele Nigrelli (from Mistretta) operating in the Nebrodi area were subjected to preventive confiscation, involved in numerous criminal proceedings for fraud aimed at obtaining public funds, tax crimes, money laundering and self-laundering. From the judicial documents it emerged that this person, also subjected to special surveillance for two years with the obligation to reside in the municipality of residence or habitual abode, has “always exploited his professional activity for the creation of a fraudulent system based on the use of corporate schemes that do not correspond to the real data, through which he has turned to his advantage significant contributions of a public nature”, including incentives provided for productive activities in depressed areas, “thus achieving a significant personal enrichment”. The confiscation involved 9 companies, operating in the field of tax assistance, assistance for the elderly and real estate; 7 apartments; 1 building and 17 lands located in the provinces of Messina and Palermo; dozens of financial relationships for a total value of approximately 12 million euros.
The second confiscation
The other confiscation decree concerned assets attributable to the Messina native John Arrigocurrently detained, who was also subjected to the personal preventive measure of special surveillance with obligation to remain in residence. The measure arises from the patrimonial investigations carried out by the Carabinieri of the Messina Investigative Unit, which made it possible to document how the man, involved in other judicial matters in the past, had accumulated, over time, assets that were disproportionate to the income declared by him and his family members. In particular, from 1992 to 2018, in the context of various criminal proceedings, he had been convicted with definitive sentences for various crimes, including association for the purpose of drug trafficking, robbery, theft, personal injury and illegal possession of weapons. Lastly, on 30 April 2021, the man had been arrested in flagrante delicto for extortion aggravated by the mafia method, as part of an investigation conducted by the Carabinieri under the coordination of this District Anti-Mafia Directorate, and was subsequently convicted. From the investigations, started immediately after the victim’s complaint, it emerged that the suspect, starting from 2016, had forced, with repeated harassment, threats and violence also carried out with the use of weapons, a building contractor to periodically pay him, as extortion, various sums of money, also requesting, without any compensation! the work for the construction of a building as well as numerous supplies of building materials. The confiscation involved 6 homes and 1 agricultural land, located in Messina, as well as 5 vehicles for a total estimated value of approximately 350 thousand euros.