The Court of Review of Catanzaro canceled the precautionary custody order in prison issued against Salvatore Muggeri, 48 years old, from Briatico, son-in-law of Antonino Accorinti, already detained under 41-bis.
The decision arrived yesterday, 28 October, at the end of the council chamber, with the acceptance of the appeal presented by the lawyer Giuseppe Bagnato, who had contested the existence of serious indications of guilt against his client. Muggeri had been the recipient of the precautionary measure for the crime of mafia association, as he was considered by the investigators to be one of the “organizers” and “coordinators” of the so-called Accorinti di Briatico group, in the period following the facts already judged in the Costa Pulita trial.
According to the prosecution system, the man – as Antonino Accorinti’s son-in-law – would have contributed, from 2014 to today, to the management of the criminal balance of the territory, coordinating strategies and actions with his father-in-law and other members of the gang. Salvatore Muggeri had already been involved in the previous Costa Pulita investigation, which ended with a final sentence of 4 years and 6 months in prison for participation in the same mafia gang. His name had also appeared in the Olimpo proceedings, in relation to some extortion disputes linked to the “Tui Magic Life” tourist village in Pizzo Calabro, and in the declarations of several justice collaborators.
The lawyer Bagnato, through a defense brief and extensive documentation, had however highlighted the absence of concrete elements capable of supporting the accusatory hypothesis. The Court of Review agreed with these arguments, ordering the total annulment of the precautionary order and the release of the suspect.
However, Muggeri remains detained for the execution of the residual sentence relating to the “Costa Pulita” trial, which has now become definitive.