«Stickiness ratios» in some cases even of «strong friendship bond»but no evidence of illicit agreements between the leaders of the Anello clan and important political representatives of the Vibo area. This is what we read, in summary, in the almost 1,800 pages of reasons for the sentence with which the Court of Lamezia Terme (Angelina Silvestri president, Maria Giulia Agosti and Gian Marco Angelini at the side) acquitted 18 defendants and convicted 47 in the trial resulting from the investigation..
Among the excellent acquittals are those of Francescantonio and Emanuele Stillitani (the first former regional councilor and former mayor of Pizzo, both entrepreneurs in the tourism sector), also accused of external complicity and for which two 21-year prison sentences had been requested. «Although relationships of stickiness between the defendants and the gangs have emerged – we read in the document – having regard to the ways in which said relationship was carried out by them, it is not worth, however, to integrate the element of voluntarinessthe synallagma being completely missing in the genetic phase of the aforementioned relationship contaminated by the element of coercion, manifested with the threatening conduct mentioned above and there being no certain demonstration beyond any reasonable doubt that the Stillitans received benefits for which a precise understanding with the criminal gangs in question”. According to the Court, the agreement between the two groups, in order to be able to speak of external competition, «must be the result of a free choice of the entrepreneur who decides to come to terms with the gangs for a favorable return for his business. However, this qualification must be excluded if the agreement is aimed at avoiding harm or averting greater damage”. The central issue of the trial against the two Stillitani brothers revolves around the question of whether the two were victims of the gangs or, on the contrary, accomplices by making their activities in the tourism sector available to them.
More details in tomorrow’s paper edition on newsstands