The charge of mafia association is dropped, but the sentences for the accused are still significant. Yesterday afternoon, the first degree of the trial resulting from the investigation called “Green Fairy”, an operation carried out by the Nipaaf carabinieri on 5 July 2024 and coordinated by the DDA of Reggio Calabria, concluded. The sentence was issued by the district judge against the 6 defendants who chose to be judged with the abbreviated procedure. The other 7 people involved in the investigation are accused before the Palmi court.
The Reggio judge sentenced Domenico Alvaro to 15 years and six months in prison, Marcello Spirlì 20 years, Vincenzo Violi 18 years and four months, Giuseppe Carmine Barone 7 years and eight months, Paolo Scalese 8 years, Vincenzo Molimaro 6 years and two months.
The “Green Fairy” operation brought to light an alleged criminal association aimed at the creation of vast cannabis plantations in the Calabrian territory, with consequent sale on the illegal market of the marijuana obtained, within a consolidated organization made up of people who operated between the municipalities of Taurianova, San Procopio and Sant’Eufemia di Aspromonte.
According to the Carabinieri investigators, at the top of the organization Spirlì was “promoter, co-financier together with Domenico Alvaro of Sinopoli and Vincenzo Violi of Sant’Eufemia d’Aspromonte, of the illicit hemp plantations, organizer and with managerial tasks, including the resolution of conflicts between the associates who operated within the plantations”.
In the precautionary custody order signed by the investigating judge of Reggio Calabria, we read that the group’s criminal project started from the conception and construction of a vast illegal hemp plantation in one of the lands identified by the group’s reconnaissance specialist specialized in identifying areas of illegal hemp cultivation, Marcello Spirlì, on land located in the municipality of Lamezia Terme made available by the other alleged associates tried in ordinary in Palmi.
The “Green Fairy” operation involved 60 forestry carabinieri from Calabria and Sicily, together with soldiers from the provincial command of Reggio Calabria. Thirteen personal precautionary measures were carried out, of which eight in prison, three under house arrest and two residence bans in the Calabrian territory. Among the crimes accused of the subjects involved, in various capacities, are also the criminal association aimed at drug trafficking and the aggravated by the mafia association, which however was not recognized by the preliminary hearing judge in the first degree sentence.
The defense team is made up of lawyers Giacomo Iaria, Antonio Attinà, Girolamo La Rosa, Renata Zito, Antonino Napoli.