Naples, contracts to the Casalesi clan: 59 on trial
Nine other suspects have chosen the abbreviated procedure. The investigation by the Neapolitan Dda concerns the infiltration of the clan into the tenders of the railway network. The crimes charged for various reasons are the Camorra association, corruption, money laundering, the fictitious registration of assets, the disclosure of documents covered by the secrecy of the investigations
All the 59 defendants in the proceeding resulting from the investigation by the Neapolitan District Anti-Mafia Directorate into the infiltration of the Casalesi clan in the tenders of the Railway Network were indicted by the judge for the preliminary hearing in Naples; nine other suspects – 68 in total – have chosen the abbreviated procedure. The crimes contested for various reasons are the Camorra association, corruption, money laundering, the fictitious heading of assets, the disclosure of documents covered by the secrecy of the investigations. The trial will begin on March 16, 2023 in front of the first section – college C – of the court of Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta).
The investigation
deepening
Contracts to Casalesi clans, 35 precautionary measures and maxi seizure of assets
A leading figure in the investigation is Nicola Schiavone, believed to be a long-time friend and figurehead of the Casalesi clan chief, Francesco “Sandokan” Schiavone, whose eldest son he baptized; for the prosecution Nicola Schiavone would have managed to get in touch with the leaders of Rfi making use of his position as a consultant to the companies and above all the pact made with the Casalesi clan boss. “He used sourdough” by Sandokan, in the words of the wife of the boss Giuseppina Nappa. And business has grown to the point that the Schiavones would have been at home in the RFI building in Rome where they would have obtained orders in exchange for bribes and gifts, such as the luxury holiday on the coast offered to former RFI executive Massimo Iorani.
The suspects
deepening
Naples, investigation into contracts with Casalesi companies: Schiavone released from prison
Schiavone was one of the 35 subjects reached by the precautionary measures issued on 3 May by the Gip of Naples, Giovanna Cervo (17 orders in prison, 17 house arrest and an obligation to present themselves) against entrepreneurs believed to be in business with the Schiavone faction of the mafia Casalese, “white collar” of the clan and managers at the time of the Italian Railway Network events. Among those arrested were Nicola’s brother, Vincenzo Schiavone, and Dante Apicella, already involved in the Casalesi Spartacus trial. It was the Schiavone and Apicella brothers who, according to the investigators, secured public contracts thus guaranteeing the survival of a mafia organization “weakened” by the action of the police and the judiciary; and they would have done so with expensive gifts – precious 600-euro Cartier gold cufflinks, ‘salaries’ of a thousand euros a month, stays worth over 9,000 euros on the Sorrento coast, complete with ancillary services, and even promotions – to former executives Rfi defendants, who will have in exchange favored the award of contracts to the colluded companies. Among the contracts in the sights of the Dda also that of Rfi concerning the safety control units and road paving. The investigation was coordinated by the substitute Dda of Naples Antonello Ardituro and Graziella Arlomede.
The hearing
Of the 35 arrested, almost all were subsequently released from prison by the Naples Review or had the measure annulled: among these Vincenzo Schiavone himself, while Nicola went from prison to house arrest and his previously seized assets, worth of nearly 50 million euros. The investigation also includes a chapter on the circumstance that Nicola Schiavone learned of the investigation against him thanks to the disclosure of the confidentiality of the investigation; in this vein a carabiniere of the Naples prosecutor’s office is involved, the lawyer Matteo Casertano, who would have revealed the news of the investigation to his cousin the entrepreneur Crescenzo De Vito, who in turn would have informed Nicola Schiavone; the same accusation against the banker Francesco Chianese (interdicted from trading for six months), who was the first to hear of the investigation revealing it to De Vito.