Everyone shut up. The district investigating judge, Fabrizia Giacchetti, receives a series of silences. The alleged exponents of the Corgliano Rossano gangs choose the “right not to answer” in the warrant interrogation following their arrest.
Carmine Ginese, Natale Perri, Giovanni and Piero Chiaradia (all assisted by the lawyer Pasquale Di Iacovo) connected by videoconference from the Rossonese penitentiary keep their mouths shut. And the same choice is made by Aldo Abbruzzese, connected from the Melfi prison (defended by the lawyers Di Iacovo and Giuseppe Bruno). The decision appears “technical” and linked to this delicate phase of the preliminary investigations which deserves an in-depth reading of the mountain of documents accompanying the “Ginestra” investigation conducted by the Catanzaro DDA, led by Salvatore Curcio.
The godfather from Cassano Damiano Pepe, 64, who escaped last week from the ambush that took the life of his partner, Silvana Sibarelli, 60, left the Annunziata hospital in Cosenza yesterday morning. According to doctors, his clinical situation is evidently compatible with penitentiary detention. The resignation report does not indicate any particular critical issues. And from the Cosenza prison where he was transferred, the “boss of bosses” spoke via videoconference only to decline the general information and communicate his choice not to answer the investigating judge’s questions. Pepe is defended by the lawyer Di Iacovo and is considered by the anti-mafia prosecutor to be the highest mafia authority in the Ionian area of Cosentino.
His home in the “Lattughelle” district of Cassano has in recent years been the destination of a veritable procession of adults and children who have come to ask for “advice” or receive “orders”. The Carabinieri of the Provincial Operations Department in fact managed to place a video camera (never discovered) in front of the building which in 24 months (from 2022 to 2024) transferred images of old and new men from the ‘ndrine received by the club leader.
The investigating magistrates believe that these were not courtesy visits. Among the most frequent visitors was, for example, Rocco Azzaro, considered a top member of the Corigliano gang, as well as members of the Abbruzzese and Forastefano families of Cassano and Sibari.
On the political front, meanwhile, the investigation records the scheduling of the warrant interrogation of the mayor Flavio Stasi, assigned to house arrest with an electronic bracelet, because he was suspected of having promised favors (never materialised) in exchange for votes to a member of the Ionian ‘ndrangheta, Annibale Matalone, who ended up in handcuffs for the murder of Carmine Morello from Rossana, which occurred in August 2023.
The mayor of Corigliano Rossano will be heard by investigating judge Giacchetti on Monday. The political exponent is assisted by the lawyer Mauro Mitidieri of the Castrovillari bar. Santo Straface (lawyer Gianluca Serravalle), Marcello Pepe (lawyer Pasquale Di Iacovo), Sandro Sibarelli (lawyer Giuseppe Fioramante) and Antonio Mingrone (lawyer Francesco Nicoletti) will also be questioned on the same day.