The State Police of Messina, yesterday evening, executed the application order of the measure of pre-trial detention in prison, requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Messina, against VIRGA Domenico, cl. `63, a prominent element of" Cosa Nostra "and, in particular, of the district of San Mauro Castelverde-Gangi, as held responsible, as principal, for the murder of COSTANZA Francesco, a subject gravitating in the circles of organized crime of Mistretta, committed in the road between San Fratello and Acquedolci in September 2001 with firearms, exploded with a cal. 7,65, and subsequently finished with a few stone blows to the head.
The carrying out of the investigations on the homicidal event in question, carried out by the Mobile Squad of the Messina Police Headquarters, Section for the fight against Organized Crime and Catturandi, which allowed at the time to fully reconstruct the victim's relational-criminal circuit, confirming its inclusion in the context criminal of the families operating on the border between the provinces of Messina and Palermo, it arrived after the very recent declarations made by the collaborator of justice BARBAGIOVANNI Carmelo, meant "U muzzuni", currently detained, exponent of the so-called mafia family. "Dei Batanesi", attributable to "Cosa Nostra" and operating mainly on the extreme Tyrrhenian side of the Province of Messina. BARBAGIOVANNI, in relation to the murder of COSTANZA Francesco, provided a precise description of the context in which it matured and the heinous methods of execution, accusing himself of this criminal action. According to the collaborator's narration, the murder of COSTANZA Francesco was himself and this COSTANZO Sergio, murdered in the countryside of Centuripe (EN) in 2010.
According to the investigative evidence, the motive for the murder of COSTANZA is to be found in the circumstance that the aforementioned had requested by way of extortion of the money from companies engaged in works in the territorial area insistent on the borders between the provinces of Palermo and Messina, some of which refer to the Entrepreneur Michele Aiello of Bagheria (PA), considered very close to the head of Cosa Nostra Bernardo PROVENZANO and already implicated in the legal case of moles in the prosecutor's office in Palermo which also saw the involvement of the then President of the Sicilian Region, members of the forces of the order and exponents of the private health of the island.
The COSTANZA, therefore, formulated extortion claims despite the fact that the so-called "Put in place" and following the "complaints" of the aforementioned entrepreneur, GIUFFRE´ Antonino (meant "Manuzza", an element of absolute importance of Cosa Nostra Palermo, former head of the district of Caccamo and very close to PROVENZANO Bernardo) sensitized by PROVENZANO , he turned to VIRGA to resolve the question which, in turn, interested the referents of the Mistrettese family.
The Messina Mobile Squad, with the coordination of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Peloritana Public Prosecutor's Office, has therefore started a very tight response to the declarations of BARBAGIOVANNI, ascertaining how they are perfectly comparable to those made, about 20 years earlier, by the aforementioned GIUFFR Antonino, collaborator of justice, and, more recently, by BISOGNANO Carmelo, one of the most authoritative representatives of the mafia family of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (ME), having for years held the role of undisputed leader of that particular articulation of the "dei Barcelona ”better known as the“ mazzarroti ”group.
The collaborators reported on the summit at the outcome of which the elimination of COSTANZA was decided, which took place a few weeks before the murder in an abandoned farmhouse located in Tusa (ME). The meeting in question was attended by elements of absolute importance of the mafia families operating in the area on the border between the provinces of Palermo and Messina, that is the current arrested, VIRGA Domenico (nephew of the boss Peppino FARINELLA) for the Palermitans, RAMPULLA Sebastiano (brother of the more famous Pietro, "bomb technician" of the Capaci massacre of ´92, who died) for the Mistrettese, BISOGNANO Carmelo for the Barcelonaese and BARBAGIOVANNI Carmelo for the Batanesi.
Moreover, during the meeting, the elders of the mafia families asked COSTANZA for explanations both in relation to sums of money withheld by him despite being destined to mafia groups in Palermo and to the request for "protection money" to companies already "protected" by them. Not considering the justifications put forward by COSTANZA to be convincing, those present at the summit dismissed him and shortly after perfected the intention to kill him.
Having taken the decision to eliminate COSTANZA, the task was "entrusted" to the Batanesi, and BARBAGIOVANNI committed the murder in concurrence with COSTANZO Sergio.
The murder of COSTANZA, in other words, was deliberated by the leaders of the mafia families operating between the provinces of Palermo and Messina to punish an unforgivable "sgarro" and to settle the existing relations between the same criminal gangs. COSTANZA had "disturbed" those who had already complied with the gangsters of the places where works are carried out: construction of country roads in the countryside of Mistretta.
The GIP Office of the Messina Court, accepting the imposing evidence framework collected by also crossing the statements made by the three collaborators of justice, moreover made in an absolutely different temporal context, issued the restrictive measure against VIRGA Domenico, considering him responsible (as principal) of the murder of COSTANZA Francesco, in collaboration with RAMPULLA Sebastiano (principal, now deceased), BARBAGIOVANNI Carmelo (material executor and confessed offender) and COSTANZO Sergio (material executor, as also said deceased)
For the above, yesterday evening, in Palermo, personnel of the Messina Mobile Squad, assisted by the homologous investigative structure of the Regional Capital and with the coordination of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Messina, proceeded to trace and capture the aforementioned VIRGA Domenico who, once the formalities had been completed, was associated with the Palermo Pagliarelli Prison, to remain there at the disposal of the proceeding GA.