After two years and ten months of hearings, the most important trial against the 'Ndrangheta ever held in Calabria has come to an end.
Known as "Rinascita Scott" was instructed by the DDA of Catanzaro against the organized crime of the province of Vibo Valentia, directed by the Mancuso family of Limbadi, and began on December 19, 2019 with the arrest of 334 people.
To contain such an impressive trial, the largest bunker courtroom in Europe was created in Lamezia Terme, capable of holding more than a thousand people.
An important trial in terms of numbers - 338 defendants in the ordinary section alone - but also in terms of contested charges and defendants involved. The prosecution held up, in this first instance of judgment that sees 207 convictions with sentences ranging from 30 years to 10 months of imprisonment.
Among the "excellent" sentences is the 11-year sentence issued against Catanzaro lawyer Giancarlo Pittelli, a former Forza Italia parliamentarian. He is accused of having facilitated the Mancuso clan of Limbadi and Fiarè-Razionale-Gasparro of San Gregorio D'Ippona. The convictions concern external complicity and two cases of disclosure of official secrets, for a case of abuse of office the politician was acquitted.
Pittelli's defenders do not agree and consider "this conviction at any cost indispensable to save the credibility of the entire investigative operation Rinascita Scott".
"I have never commented on the sentences in my entire life. I will continue in my respectful attitude towards judicial measures," Pittelli wrote on his Facebook profile: "I leave the comments and the exultation to the serial impostors and jackals who in the past and for a long time raged in national and local newspapers and television."
Also convicted were the former DIA financier Michele Marinaro, accused of external complicity and revelation of official secrets (10 years and 6 months) and the lieutenant colonel of the carabinieri Giorgio Naselli (2 years and 6 months) accused of revealing official secrets.
Pietro Giamborino, a former regional councillor considered by the prosecution to belong to the local of Piscopio (Vibo Valentia district), was acquitted of the charge of mafia association, but Giamborino was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months for trafficking in illicit influence.
Former regional councillor Luigi Incarnato, a member of the national leadership of the PSI, was also acquitted of the charge of trafficking in illicit influence. Just as the former mayor of Pizzo and former president of ANCI Gianluca
Callipo was acquitted of charges of external participation in a mafia association, abuse of office and violation of electoral laws.
The leaders of the 'Ndrangheta of Vibo were therefore beheaded with the convictions of Saverio Razionale, boss of San Gregirio D'Ippona (30 years old), Domenico Bonavota, boss of Sant'Onofrio (30 years old). Also sentenced were former fugitive Pasquale Bonavota (28), arrested in recent months in Genoa, Paolino Lo Bianco (30 years), Antonio Macrì (20 years and 10 months), Salvatore Morelli (28 years and 4 months), Rosario Pugliese (28 years) and Antonio Vacatello (30 years).