Agorà trial in Catania: 47 defendants sentenced to over 400 years

Over 400 years of imprisonment for 47 defendants and seven acquittals: this is the sentence of the trial, held with the abbreviated procedure, issued by Judge Dora Catena assigned to the Agorà investigation of the Dda of the Catania Prosecutor’s Office on the relationships between the Santapaola family of Catania and the Nardo clan of Lentini, both belonging to Cosa Nostra, who would have done business together in drug trafficking and control of the business fabric, but also had economic disputes in sectors of common interest. The measure of precaution that led to the arrest of 47 people and the notification of a non-restrictive order for nine other suspects was born from the investigations of the Carabinieri of the Ros of Catania and the provincial command of Siracusa on June 16, 2022.

Among the sentences imposed: 11 years and 8 months of imprisonment for Gioacchino Francesco Gianfranco La Rocca, son of the historic mafia boss “Ciccio” who passed away in December 2020, twenty years for Salvatore Rinaldi, 19 years and 4 months for Antonino Guercio, 16 years for Gesualdo Briganti, 14 years and 6 months for Orazio Papale. Acquitted Mario Brullo, Vincenzo Comparato, Francesco Giordano, Domenico Querulo, Egidio Russo, and Gabriele Garasi. The judge also ordered the confiscation of Cutrera funeral honors srl and its business as a whole, the seizure and return to the rightful owner of the individual company Salvatore Orefice, and the compensation for damages, to be liquidated separately, against the Municipalities of Vizzini and Caltagirone who had become civil parties in the trial.

During the military investigations of the Carabinieri seized a total of 108 kilograms of marijuana, 2.6 kilograms of cocaine, and 57 kilograms of hashish. According to the Dda of the Catania Prosecutor’s Office, thanks to the investigations of the Carabinieri, it would have also been “documented how some employees of the Municipality of Caltagirone, not recipients of precautionary measures, but under investigation” would have “shaped the bids to favor companies attributable to La Rocca”.