Two men were arrested by the carabinieri of the Roccella Jonica companyin execution of the order for pre -trial detention in prison issued as part of an investigation coordinated by the District Anti -Mafia Directorate of Reggio Calabria, directed by the Prosecutor of the Republic FF, dr. Giuseppe Lombardo.
The investigation has allowed – the state the procedure is under the preliminary investigations and without prejudice to different assessments in the subsequent stages – of shed light on a particularly aggressive and structured extortion system that has tried to extend its control even on a highly symbolic public work: the reconstruction of an elementary school in the municipality of Marina di Gioiosa Jonica (RC).
The investigative activities conducted by the carabinieri – and developed with rigor and attention to detail – have made it possible to reconstruct a disturbing picture. Between 2019 and 2020, the company in charge of public works would have been subjected to continuous pressure and conditioning by a summit exponent of a well -known mafiosa consortiumwho would have imposed his “authority” on every aspect of the building intervention.
At the center of the story, an emblematic figure: “The engineer”nickname with which the figure of the extortion was often evoked. Every decision, every movement of the construction site had to go from its approval. And to guarantee direct control, the man had imposed the assumption of his own trustee within the company. From there, precise orders: to rent means only from “friends” suppliers, to buy materials from compliant companies, move under its constant supervision.
A script known in mafia dynamics, but which is renewed in its ferocity and infiltration ability, also in symbolic works such as the reconstruction of a school. “The engineer” would even have described that system as an inevitable reality: in Marina di Gioiosa Jonica, according to him, it could not be operated without bowing the head.