Mafia bugged investigators by running a bar in courthouse
AN INVESTIGATION in Italy has found that the mafia controlled a bar inside a courthouse in the southern city of Potenza, capital of the Basilicata region.
As prosecutors and police sipped cappuccini and tucked into cornetti (croissants), they were being watched and overheard.
Investigators set up hidden cameras and listening devices, catching the staff of the bar-café bowing to mafia bosses when they appeared for court hearings.
Italy’s mafia launder the proceeds of drugs and extortion by buying up restaurants and hotels, but owning a business inside the justice system is thought to be without precedent.
Running the bar enabled mobsters to listen in on lawyers, magistrates, judges and police, gleaning information about ongoing investigations.
It was a “striking demonstration” of the mafia’s influence in the region and “guaranteed them a privileged observation point inside a crucial part of the legal system,” said Francesco Curcio, a district prosecutor.
‘They were able to influence the administration, with the typical mafia tactics of fear and intimidation’
The investigation revealed the “penetration of the institutional and business world of Potenza, to the extent that they were able… to manage the bar-cafeteria inside the Palace of Justice”.
The bar was closed down by the police and 17 arrest warrants were issued, the culmination of two-year operation Iceberg. The arrests included members of the Riviezzi family, who allegedly wielded influence in and around Potenza. They have denied any wrongdoing or mafia association.
“They were able to influence the public administration, with the typical mafia tactics of fear and intimidation,” said the prosecutor.
The family allegedly have strong links with mafia clans in Calabria, which is controlled by the ‘Ndrangheta organised crime network, as well as in Campania around Naples, where the Camorra holds sway.
The operation involved the Flying Squad of the police as well as the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s tax, customs and finance police force.
Basilicata adjoins Calabria, where the biggest “maxi trial” for decades is underway, targeting clans belonging to the ‘Ndrangheta, believed to make €50billion (£43billion) a year importing cocaine from South America.