All convicted. Yesterday the judge for the preliminary hearings of the Court of Catanzaro, Mario Santoemma, imposed sentences of 4 to 8 years in prison on the 5 defendants involved in the abbreviated trial arising from the DDA investigation which would have shed light on the alleged tentacles that the Bagnato gang would have extended over the contracts of the Municipality of Roccabernarda.
The highest sentences for the two collaborators of justice: 8 years of imprisonment for Tommaso Rosa, accused of having acted as a “stakeholder” on the occasion of the killing of Rocco Castiglione and the attempted murder of his brother Raffaele, which occurred on 31 May 2014, on the orders of the lifer prison boss Antonio Santo Bagnato; and 5 years and 4 months to Domenico Iaquinta for the attempted murder of 12 August 2013 in Crotone. Then, 4 years to the same Antonio Santo Bagnato for damage. While 4 years and 4 months to Gianfranco Bagnato, brother of the clan leader, for attempted extortion, threats and damage. Finally, the entrepreneur Antonio Lonetto was sentenced to 4 years for attempted extortion and damage.
The operation, in the wake of the “Trigarium” blitz, began on 17 November 2023 with 3 arrests carried out by the carabinieri. According to the anti-mafia prosecutor’s office, the former mayor of Roccabernarda, Vincenzo Pugliese, together with the organization’s technicians at the time, Giovanni Iaquinta and Luigi Piro (accused in the ordinary trial in Crotone), would have influenced the “methods of choosing the contractor” to whom to entrust “the maintenance of public lighting”.