The Court of Appeal of Reggio Calabria has profoundly reformed the first instance sentence for the defendants involved in the “Lex” trial. A ruling that in some cases overturns what was established by the Court of Palmi on 23 October 2020.
This is the case of Andrea Prossomariti and Claudio Napoli, acquitted in first degree of the crimes of association and fictitious registration of assets, and sentenced on appeal to 13 years for external complicity; while Alessandro Ferrentino, acquitted in the first instance, was sentenced to 25 years for mafia association.
Angelo Lamari had been sentenced to 18 years in prison in the first instance. The Reggio Court of Appeal decided to annul the sentence first degree for notification problems. For Lamari, therefore, we return to Palmi where the first degree trial will have to be held. The judges in Piazza Castello, meanwhile, redetermined the sentence at 3 years and six months of imprisonment. Same decision also for Vincenzo Lainà: the first degree sentence declared null and void, the documents sent back to the Palmi Prosecutor’s Office and the sentence was redetermined at 4 years and four months in prison. Mattia Lamari was acquitted by the mafia association (in the first instance he was sentenced to 13 years) and the sentence was redetermined at 4 years in prison; Andrea Mandaglio 10 months in prison, the other criminal charges are time-barred. Same pronunciation for Giovanni Mandaglio10 months, the other prescribed crimes; Fabio Mastroianni he was acquitted by the association and his sentence redetermined at 4 years, Jose Signorello 8 years (13 years in first degree); Happy Zito 2 years,
Convictions confirmed for Francesco Brogna (1 year and ten months), Diego Freitas de Siquiera (2 years and six months) and Giuseppe Pititto (15 years imprisonment).
Prescribed crime and no prosecution for Fabio Mezzasalma, Pier Luigi Aschei, Celeste Cordiani and Marina Panigo. Salvatore Monea, however, was acquitted.
The investigation
The investigations by the anti-mafia prosecutor’s office of Reggio Calabria, focused on the Laureana di Borrello Ferrentino-Chindamo and Lamari clans, had led to the arrest of more than 40 people and indirectly also to the dissolution of the city council due to the infiltration of the ‘Ndrangheta.
The investigation, carried out by the Carabinieri of the Gioia Tauro group, would have shed light on a series of criminal episodes that occurred in Laureana di Borrello starting from June 2014. Elements which for the Reggio anti-mafia denoted the operation of the two gangs, often at odds with each other. Contrasts which, as will be learned from Giuseppe Dimasi’s repentance, had almost led to a new ‘ndrangheta war in the small town of the Gioia Tauro plain, after the massacre of the 1990s ascertained by the “Green Plan” trial. The raid began at dawn on November 3, 2016.
All are accused, in various capacities, of mafia association, external complicity, carrying and possession of weapons of war and common firearms, trafficking of narcotic substances, extortion, damage, serious personal injury, sports fraud, fictitious registration of assets, fire, all aggravated by the mafia method and facilitation.
For the defendants who had chosen the abbreviated procedure, the sentence has already become final after the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Among the excellent arrests of the “Lex” operation we must remember the former councilor of the Municipality of Laureana, Vincenzo Lainà, accused of being the man of the clans within the municipal administration. The arrest of the politician had led the Prefecture of Reggio Calabria to send an access commission and after a few weeks to the dissolution of the Municipality of Laureana di Borrello due to the mafia.