Investigation into city councilor Inzerillo is dropped in Palermo

Last Updated: December 8, 2023

Palermo, nigeriana accusa il protettore: i giudici lo condannano, ma dicono che lei era «prostituta per scelta»

The investigating judge Clelia Maltese has closed the investigation against Palermo city councilor Gianluca Inzerillo, leader of Forza Italia in Sala delle Lapidi, who was being investigated for favoring extortion. The hypothesis that he had denied having been the victim of an extortion request from two mafiosi has been dropped. The prosecution had also requested the closure of the case. The investigation into Inzerillo had emerged during the public prosecutor’s closing arguments in a trial against mafia bosses and associates from Brancaccio. It was speculated that Girolamo Celesia and Gaspare Sanseverino had forced Inzerillo to pay an unspecified sum of money as protection money for the sale of a family property. The extortion charge had already been dismissed by the Court of Review, which upheld the appeal of Celesia’s lawyers, stating that there were not enough “sufficient and reassuring elements to believe that there had been extortion activity against private individuals involved in the deal.” The events date back to 2020, when Inzerillo was a councilor and leader of Sicilia Futura, before joining Forza Italia. Inzerillo, assisted by lawyer Pasquale Contorno, stated from the beginning that he had not been the victim of any extortion request.