The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Catanzaro which had challenged the sentence pronounced by the Court of Appeal with which, in reform of the first degree sentence which had inflicted sentences of up to ten years of imprisonment for multiple crimes, including the mafia-style crime of association, the defendants were acquitted of the crime of association, deemed non-existent. During the hearing on 2 October, during the indictment, the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation had requested the rejection of the appeal of the Prosecutor of Catanzaro, requesting, instead, the annulment of the sentence relating to the revocation of the confiscation of all the companies attributable to Putrino and Rocca. The defenders of the defendants, however, in asking that the public prosecution’s appeal be declared inadmissible or in any case rejected, further discussed asking for the acceptance of their respective appeals in relation to a hypothesis of illicit competition, for which there was a conviction (albeit with the benefits of the law).
In particular, for Vincenzo Torcasio, defended by the lawyer Antonio Larussa, for whom there had been a conviction only for the crime of association, the acquittal declared by the appeal judge was definitively confirmed. For Pietro Putrino, for his son and for the companies attributable to them (defended by the lawyers Francesco Gambardella, Massimiliano Carnovale and Michele Cerminara), as well as for his nephew (defended by the lawyer Giuseppe Senese), the acquittal for the crime of association was also confirmed (due to the non-existence of the fact) with the simultaneous recognition of the legitimacy of the companies attributable to them. For the latter, liability only for the crime of illicit competition was confirmed. Also for Ugo Bernardo Rocca (defended by the lawyer Antonio Larussa) the acquittal for the crime of association was confirmed (due to the non-existence of the fact) with the confirmation of responsibility for the crime of illicit competition (with legal benefits). Responsibility for the crime of illicit competition was also confirmed for Franco Antonio Di Spena (defended by the lawyer Lucio Canzoniere).
The “Quinta Bolgia” affair
The operation began in 2018 with the arrest of all the defendants in prison, as it was believed that there was a situation of circumstantial gravity for multiple crimes of illicit competition, auction rigging and, indeed, mafia-style criminal association. Already in the preliminary investigation phase – the defense recalls – the Court of Cassation had annulled all the orders implementing the prison measure. Having concluded the trial with the abbreviated procedure, the Catanzaro GUP instead reached a conviction, imposing very heavy penalties for all crimes, including the mafia-style crime of association and ordering the confiscation of all assets attributable to Putrino and Rocca. The latter sentence was almost completely overturned on appeal, with acquittal for the crime of association and the revocation of the confiscation of assets. With the ruling of the Court of Cassation, which fully confirmed the appeal ruling, the definitive nature of the non-existence of the mafia association initially believed to exist was declared.