Police dismantle drug-dealing hub in Palermo’s Sperone Square: 18 arrests
Explain in brief the following article:
A criminal association, operating in Sperone and dedicated to the retail sale of crack doses, has been dismantled. The State police, following an investigation coordinated by the Anti-Mafia District Directorate at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Palermo, has executed a precautionary custody order in prison against 18 people, 17 of whom will have to answer for the crime of criminal association aimed at drug trafficking and one for the crime of drug trafficking.
The investigations carried out by the police officers of the Brancaccio police station, using sophisticated technologies and interception activities, documented thousands of crack trafficking episodes between 2020 and 2022, located in the garages of a popular condominium area with high population density, characterized by the presence of grilles and gates limiting access from the outside streets.
This limitation, combined with the caution adopted by the members and pushers, as well as the surveillance provided by lookouts on upper floors and patrols in neighboring areas, made the police investigations particularly difficult. However, the police managed to penetrate the fortification by placing cameras in this southeastern suburb of the capital, one of the largest drug dealing hubs in Sicily, documenting numerous drug transactions even with buyers from towns in the Palermo area and other provinces.
The results of the investigation, in addition to the individual responsibilities of the suspects, identified all the symptomatic signs of the operation of a well-established and structured organization: the division of tasks, the establishment of strict schedules, the use of the same drug dealing location, the automation of drug dealing practices, the division of proceeds among allies, and the management of a common fund.
It is estimated that the association earned approximately 50,000 euros per month from drug trafficking in the gate area between 2020 and 2022. The organization relied on the profitable collaboration of two family groups that acted in full agreement for common profit, even after some misunderstandings that led to a period of tension, resulting in the beating of a member of one of the families.
Near one of the condominium garages, considered the center of drug trafficking and a daily transit point for dozens of motorists buyers who stopped for a few seconds to do a crack take away, the allies had also set up an illicit beverage resale, a lucrative collateral activity and diversion that could justify the presence of so many customers actually coming to that part of Sperone not for drinks but for drugs.
During the two-year operation, the State police made numerous arrests and crack seizures, also obtaining confirmation of individual transactions through the hearings and confessions of buyers-users stopped at a safe distance from the drug dealing locations.
Palermo, piazza di spaccio di crack allo Sperone sgominata dalla polizia: 18 arresti
Sicilian news
Tutte le Notizie in Italiano
SIGDS