They allegedly carried out unauthorized exhumations for years in the Cittanova cemetery in the province of Reggio Calabria, destroying or moving the bodies of the deceased to other niches to make room for new burials. With this accusation the carabinieri have arrested 16 people in the provinces of Reggio, Milan and Vicenza in execution of a precautionary custody order issued by the investigating judge at the request of the Palmi prosecutor Emanuele Crescenti. Among those arrested the former caretaker of the cemetery, now retired, and three local entrepreneurs who ran two funeral homes. Overall, 70 people are under investigation. An area of the cemetery seized.
The 16 arrested are believed, in various capacities, to be involved in illicit operations hidden behind the regular management of the municipal cemetery where they had created, according to the investigators, a “parallel management” of the cemetery compared to that of the Municipality. The former custodian and the three local entrepreneurs, subjected to precautionary custody in prison, are believed by investigators to be at the head of a criminal association.
Among those arrested were 5 forensic doctors, three local police officers and a priest
There are 5 forensic doctors, three local police officers and a priest among those arrested in the operation, called «Aeternum», which this morning led to the arrest of 16 accused of a «parallel» and illicit management of the Cittanova cemetery with the illegal exhumation of bodies to make room for new burials. One of the doctors placed under house arrest is the current mayor of Oppido Mamertina. The investigation, conducted by the Carabinieri of the Operations Department and the Gioia Tauro Group, revolves around the figure of Salvatore Ligato known as «Franco», aged 68, the former caretaker, now retired, of the Cittanova cemetery for whom the investigating judge Francesco Petrone issued a precautionary custody order in prison at the request of the Palmi prosecutor Emanuele Crescenti. Three local entrepreneurs, administrators of two funeral homes, were also taken to prison: Francesco Galluccio (61), Serafino Berlingeri (56) and Antonino Albanese known as “Antonello” (60). A priest, Don Giuseppe Borelli (80), former archpriest of the parish of San Girolamo, ended up under house arrest. The same precautionary measure was ordered for three local police officers, Maria Cutrì (47), Francesco Falleti (62) and Vincenzo Ferraro (66), for the owner of a funeral business Francesco Curulla (68), for the caretaker of the cemetery Girolamo Franconeri (61), for the head of the technical office of the Municipality of Cittanova Salvatore Foti (42) and for five forensic doctors of the ASP of Reggio Calabria, Osvaldo Casella (66), Domenico Mazzaferro (62), Arcangelo Padovano ( 62), Antonio Russo (66) and Bruno Barillaro (67). The latter is also mayor of the municipality of Oppido Mamertina.
The accusations against the priest Don Giuseppe Borelli
Don Borelli, as priest of the San Girolamo parish of Cittanova, would have, at the instigation of Francesco Galluccio and the Santa Rita funeral company, contributed to defrauding the Municipality of Cittanova through the establishment of “a parallel market of the niches located in interior of the chapels already named after the former Confraternities: first by having them renovated with the correlative massive exhumation of all the bodies buried there, many of which were suppressed, and then by providing, sometimes directly and sometimes through the intermediation of the aforementioned funeral companies, for the “sale “of the related burial niches, most of which were freed following the massive exhumations mentioned above”.
The names of all the suspects
In jail
Antonino Albanese, cl. 1963
Serafino Berlingeri, cl. 1968
Francesco Galluccio, cl. 1962
Salvatore Ligato, cl. 1955
Under house arrest
Bruno Barillaro, born in 1956
Giuseppe Borelli, cl. 1943
Osvaldo Casella, cl. 1957
Francesco Curulla, cl. 1955
Maria Cutrì, cl. 1976
Francesco Falleti, cl. 1961
Vincenzo Ferraro, cl. 1957
Salvatore Foti, cl. 1981
Girolamo Franconeri, cl. 1962
Domenico Mazzaferro, cl. 1961
Arcangelo Padovano, cl. 1961
Antonio Russo, cl. 1957
The suspects
Alessia Adornato
Antonio Adornato
Giovanni Albanese
Graziano Araco
Francesco Ascone
Maria Ascone
Archangel Audino
Giulio Ciano
Gaetano Ciardullo
Nicola Circosta
Antonio Cirillo
Paolo Cotroneo
Attilio D’Agostino
Vincenzo D’Agostino
Girolamo Dagostino
Francesco Deraco
Emiddio Fiumarella
Rocco Fonte
Gabriele Fosco
Francesco Fusco
Pasquale Galluccio
Davide Giovinazzo
Anna Ieraci
Biagio Italian
Fortunato Maisano
Rosa Mammoliti
Saverio Mammoliti
Domenico Marano
Luca Mariani
Michele Mileto
Vincenzo Minasi
Patrizia Misiani
Domenico Palamara
Giovanni Palumbo
Salvatore Papandrea
Nicola Papasidero
Fabiano Pasqualone
Mario Pio Piluso
Salvatore Piromalli
Giuseppina Politanò
Pasquale Politi
Erminia Russo
John Russo
Rocco Serafino
Giuseppe Serafino
Antonio Serafino
Domenico Scolaro
Francesco Scozzarra
Domenico Taverna
German Rosary
Trandafir Varga
Antonino Zucco