The Catania State Police, delegated by the District Attorney of the Republic of Catania, carried out a precautionary custody order against 40 subjects, 30 of whom were sent to prison and 10 under house arrest, issued by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations of Catania, for crimes of conspiracy for the purpose of trafficking in narcotic substances such as marijuana and cocaine, possession for the purpose of drug trafficking, with the aggravating circumstance - for some of them - referred to in art. 416 bis.1 of the Criminal Code for having committed the crime with the aim of facilitating the Cappello - Bonaccorsi mafia association.
The survey has allowed to acquire significant elements of guilt against two mafia groups operating in the city center and particularly active in the trafficking of drugs through the continuous and permanent control of an entire neighborhood of the Etna capital.
In fact the investigative activity, supported by technical principals, has demonstrated the existence, in the popular district of San Berillo Nuovo, of two distinct "market squares" of drugs (traffickers in cocaine and marijuana), a short distance one each on the other, the first of them (the one located in Corso Indipendenza - Corner of Via La Marmora) managed by the mafia group organically attributable to the Mafioso Cappello - Bonaccorsi clan, or the one who had received the investiture to manage the aforementioned profitable business on the whole , also taking care to define the boundaries with the other mafia groups operating in the area.
The second, instead, operating in an area adjacent to the first and precisely in Via San Leone, is managed by various subjects related - due to their past history - to the "Cursoti Milanesi" clan.
The border between the two squares - after bitter disagreements that had seen some subjects close to the clan of the "Cursoti Milanesi" walk the public streets of the city armed to fight their rivals - was marked by the affixing of two distinct flags, that of the United States 'America for the Cappello-Bonaccorsi clan, that of Milan for the Cursoti-Milanesi clan.
During the investigation activity, consolidated elements were acquired regarding the ability of the two mafia groups to impose their control on the territory through an articulated system of pusher, lookouts and custodians of the narcotic substance that guaranteed prolonged and continuous management, of the two aforementioned market squares and this despite some interventions by law enforcement officers who carried out some arrests of associates.
The operation, called "Tricolore", aims to reaffirm the presence of institutions within urban areas, transformed into open-air drug markets, and defended by mafia groups also through the use of weapons.
The mafia-like connotation of the criminal association is confirmed by the reference investigative context from which it was learned that the proceeds of the shop are not only destined for the self-financing of the criminal gang but also for the maintenance of the prisoners in prison, according to known and consolidated "clichés "Which impose on the subjects not reached by restrictive measures to contribute to the sustenance of the members, above all those with an apical role.
It should also be noted that the widespread and detailed captivating activity started in the survey has allowed us to identify not only the suppliers of the sales outlets, linked to organized crime in the Campania region, but also to go back to subjects who immediately appeared to be involved in the facilitation of the inaction of BONACCORSI Concetto, historic boss, together with his brother Ignazio, of the family of the same name, known as the “Carateddi”, allied with the Cappello clan.
The accurate telephone monitoring and the direct observation of the movements of these subjects, orbiting in the province of Pistoia, resulted in the April of 2017 in the identification of the house in which the BONACCORSI had taken refuge, allowing its arrest after an inaction continued since September of the 2016.