‘Ndrangheta, ‘Reggio Nord’ trial: the 10 defendants acquitted

John

By John

The Reggio Nord trial celebrated before the Court of Appeal of Reggio Calabria ended with the acquittal of all ten defendants. Deciding on the postponement ordered by the Supreme Court in 2018, the judges of second instance acquitted, “because the fact does not exist”, the entrepreneur Pasquale Rappoccio and the bosses Pasquale Bertuca And Domenico Condello. Also for the latter’s brother-in-law, Bruno Tegano, the charges were dropped as for the other six defendants: Gianluca Ciro, Domenico Favara, Gaetano Francesco Belfiore, Robertino Morgante, Fabio Pasqualino Scopelliti, Renato Marra And Giuseppe Caronfolo.

The trial arose from an investigation by the DDA of Reggio Calabria which in 2011 had led to the raid by the Carabinieri who had carried out an arrest order against members of the Condello-Garonfolo and Zito-Bertuca gangs. At the center of the investigations was the affair of the «Limoneto» disco in Catona, on the northern outskirts of Reggio, which, according to the investigative findings, was effectively managed by Bruno Tegano on behalf of the boss Mico Condello, a fugitive at the time. The latter, captured in 2012, was sentenced to almost 20 years in prison in the “Reggio Nord” trial, which was later annulled by the Supreme Court. Sentenced in the first instance to 5 years, the entrepreneur Rappoccio, former owner of Medinex, the women’s volleyball team of the city of the Strait, was accused of fictitious registration with the aggravating circumstance of having favored the Condello gang. After the first acquittal in the second trial, annulled by the Supreme Court, today he was acquitted again by the Court of Appeal presided over by Judge Lucia Monaco who, within 90 days, will file the reasons for the sentence.