“Concrete, univocal and relevant” elements have led to the administration of the Municipality of Capistrano, in the province of Vibo Valentia, for mafia infiltration. “Little respect for the law and influence of organized crime on the municipal administration”. With these reasons, the TAR of Lazio has rejected, considering it manifestly unfounded, the appeal filed by the former mayor of Capistrano Mark Martinfrom the former deputy mayor Vito Pirruccio and by 5 former city councilors, confirming the dissolution of the agency for mafia infiltration decided in September 2023 by the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, Matthew Piantedosi.
In the sentence the TAR underlines that «the messages exchanged between Nensy Chimirri, companion of Emanuel Mancusoa leading member of the gang who later dissociated himself, and the mayor Marco Martino (Forza Italia) constitute “clear evidence of the administrator’s reverence and attention towards this particular town”.
According to the TAR, “the relationship between members of the underworld and local administrators is also fully proven”, with the dissolved majority having created a “dummy” list so as not to invalidate the electoral round in the event of failure to reach the quorum, with “the absence of a genuine electoral debate”, “very close family ties between the signatories and the candidates of the two lists”.
The defeated mayoral candidate, Rocco Tinothen declared «to the access commission that he had participated in the competition only at the request of the former deputy mayor Pirruccio». The public tenders were also «managed in such a way as to guarantee the award to relatives of the administrators. For example – the TAR points out – the contracts in favor of Pasceri Stefano’s company were repeated in violation of the rotation, with the entrepreneur who is also the father of the appellant Carlo Pasceri, majority councilor, a circumstance that demonstrates the overall family-like management of the res publica».