PALERMO – The Guardia di Finanza of Palermo carried out five precautionary measures and seized assets for 500 thousand euros from members of a criminal organization accused of conspiracy, abusive exercise of financial activity, usury, extortion and self-laundering. One ended up in prison, three under house arrest and one has a ban on staying in the territory of the Sicilian capital.
The provision was issued by the investigating judge of Palermo. the investigations were coordinated by the public prosecutor’s office.
The investigation it was conducted by the Palermo Economic and Financial Police Unit, headed by Colonel Gianluca Angelini. Investigators used telephone and environmental wiretapping, stalking, stalking, video footage and examined financial flows. of the suspects.
According to what has been ascertained, The criminal organization, starting from 2016, would have provided loans with the application of usurious interest rates to dozens of people in the Palermo and Roman area, for a total amount of approximately 150,000 euros. Part of the illicit proceeds pocketed would then be “self-laundered” by the son of one of the suspects, an active “collaborator” of his father in the criminal actions, in an economic activity in the catering sector in the Palermo nightlife area.
Other suspects they would have acted in various capacities as intermediaries, coming into contact with the victims, proposing “repayment plans” and inviting the debtors to respect the deadline of the agreed installments. To push the victims to turn to the gang was the serious state of need, aggravated by the lockdown caused by the Covid emergency.
It was discovered, moreover, a professional system based on the issuance of postdated checks used to guarantee the loans disbursed and on cash donations, without any type of traceability, with the aim of “shielding” the passage of money. The loans would have been charged with interest rates that would have reached 140% per annum. To get the money back, the suspects also made threats against the victims.
The military, by checking the databases, they ascertained the disproportion between the assets in the availability of the suspects and the declared income. The investigating judge ordered the seizure of the premises of a restaurant in the “Capo” district of Palermo, two other properties, a motorcycle and current accounts.
The boss was Salvatore Cillari, brother of a boss who lives in prison. It was he who managed the gang of usurers who for years lent money at rates that reached 140% to dozens of victims: entrepreneurs, professionals, antique dealers and excellent names of the show like the conductor Marco Baldini.
Cillari ended up in prison, under house arrest his son Gabriele, who laundered the dirty money pocketed with usury by investing in a trendy venue in the Capo district, a few meters from the courthouse in Palermo. The restaurant, “L’Acerba”, was seized. The organization also included Matteo Reina and Giovanni Cannatella, who also ended up under house arrest, and Achille Cuccia who was banned from staying in Palermo. The gang operated between Palermo and Rome. Cillari was at home in the capital as shown by the interceptions of the dramatic conversations with the radio host Baldini who, between 2017 and 2018, ended up in the network of loan sharks.
“How did Marco end up with this money?” Missing a lira », Cillari told him, not knowing he was being intercepted. “See you tomorrow, don’t worry,” replied Baldini. But the debt was not paid and the usurer continued to pursue the victim. “Friday I come to Rome and stay there until Friday,” added Cillari in a threatening tone.
According to what has been ascertained, the criminal organization, starting from 2016, would have provided loans with the application of usurious interest rates to dozens of people for a total amount of approximately 150,000 euros.