The Cirò Marina drug trafficking group, which allegedly operated in the shadow of the Farao-Marincola gang, could also count on the availability of weapons and ammunition of different calibers, to be used in the face of possible conflicts. The investigating judge of the Court of Catanzaro, Fabiana Giacchetti, puts it in black and white in the order with which she ordered the 13 arrests (10 in prison and 3 under house arrest), which were carried out on Wednesday by the Carabinieri of Crotone as part of the “Desert storm” investigation of the Catanzaro Anti-Mafia District Directorate. Antonio Aloisio, Salvatore Arabia, Cataldo Cozza, Luca Frustillo, Alessandro Giglio, Carmine Graziano, Mario Morrone, Antonio Murano, Basilio Paletta and Gaetano Potenza ended up in prison. While Domenico Pio Aloisio, Antony Dell’Aquila and Sante Morrone were placed under house arrest.

«All the avìumu nui weapons, Kalashnikovs, shotguns»

And the contested charges include illegal possession of weapons. As the investigators have lined up a series of episodes from which the suspects appear to be in possession, above all, of guns. “If you can find me a car… a couple of cars”, Carmine Graziano said on 17 February 2023 to one of his interlocutors regarding the need to obtain at least two firearms. And in the end Graziano obtained the gun but it turned out to be defective to the point of claiming the 500 euros spent to buy it. But the judge of the preliminary investigations also mentions in the precautionary measure the discovery, in 2023, of a 7.65 caliber Beretta pistol and dozens of bullets by the military in the apartment of an alleged member of the Cirotano clan. Not only that. Because regarding the availability of weapons at the hands of the Farao-Marincola family, the words of the justice collaborator, Gaetano Aloe, son of the gang leader Nick who was murdered in 1987, must be recorded. The repentant, in the interrogation given on 14 June 2023 before the then prosecutor of the DDA of Catanzaro, Domenico Guarascio, now at the helm of the Crotone Prosecutor’s Office, revealed a series of details on the “firepower” of the gang: «Everyone the avìumu nui weapons – he explained – Kalashnikovs, shotguns”. And again: «And yes, there – your reconstruction – with desire and weapons, doctor! There’s a bazooka, there’s a sacciu why not parramu, right? There are weapons, you have the desire and weapons that we will have.”