Mafia: Yellow Flames Seize One Million Euros from Batanesi Affiliate in Nebrodi
The provincial command of the financial police are carrying out a seizure order issued by the prevention measures section of the Messina Court, at the request of the local Prosecutor’s Office, against an individual operating in the Tyrrhenian side of the province of Messina, deemed socially dangerous.
The measure, extended to the family members of the subject under investigation, originally from Tortorici but active in the Montalbano Elicona area, stems from the detailed reconstruction of the dangerousness profile of the individual, developed through the results of multiple investigative initiatives initiated over time by the Peloritana Prosecutor’s Office and the Messina Financial Police.
In particular, the judicial evidence emerged in the TERRA MIA investigation from 2018, and especially the results of the NEBRODI operation, significant investigative activity which, in January 2020, allowed to outline the contours of a complex mafia organization, partly judicially recognized in October 2022, and attributable to two branches of the “Tortorician” group, the “Batanesi” and the “Bontempo Scavo”, involved in multiple illicit activities in the Nebrodi territory.
More specifically, the investigations documented the constant activity of these criminal groups in the Peloritana province, verifying a specific inclination towards illicit activities in the profitable sector of community fraud in agriculture, for the improper obtainment of EU funds under the Common Agricultural Policy.
The current subject, as summarized in the motivational path of the lower court’s judgment of the Patti Tribunal within the aforementioned “NEBRODI” operation, was a subject in close relationship with the “Batanesi”, to the point of representing the “family” during summits organized with the representatives of organized crime in Catania.
In this context, it emerged that he dealt with resolving issues related to territorial control, as well as managing extortions and plots of land to be used for the scams against AGEA.
The current economic and asset investigations, carried out by the specialists of the GICO of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Messina, have therefore allowed, on the asset front, to reveal the availability of assets, in the name of the investigated subject and their family members, in disproportionate amounts compared to the declared lawful incomes, demonstrating the close temporal correlation between the documented antisocial behaviors and the illicit enrichment.
In conclusion, the preventive asset measure regarding a total of 3 business units including related assets (active in the agricultural sector), 6 lands and 2 financial relationships in direct or indirect availability or in any case attributable to the subject, with an estimated total value of 1 million euros.
The executed measure is not definitive, therefore leaving room for different evaluations in the subsequent judicial phases, both regarding the social dangerousness profile and the detected economic inequality.
The operation once again demonstrates the attention of the Anti-Mafia District Directorate of Messina, the Prevention Measures Section of the local Court, as well as the Messina Financial Police, towards the delicate Nebrodi area, not only in terms of repression of the criminal wing but also in identifying illicitly accumulated wealth to return it to the community.
Mafia, le fiamme gialle sequestrano un milione di euro ad un affiliato alla cosca dei Batanesi attiva sui Nebrodi
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