Hard blow to the Corleonese mafia: kidnappings and confiscations for a value of over four million euros. In the crosshairs of the operation – in execution of three distinct provisions of the Court of Palermo, resulting from the meticulous investigations of the soldiers of the Special Operational Group and the Provincial Carabinieri Command of Palermo – there are the nephew and brother of Totò Riina: Mario Salvatore Grizzaffi and Gaetano Riina. In addition to Rosario Salvatore Lo Bue, nicknamed “Saro Chiummino” and his son Leoluca. The kidnapping of Riina’s nephew was ordered in 1st instance by the Court of Palermo, while that against Riina’s brother in 2nd instance by the Court of Appeal of Palermo. Characters who had favored the inaction of the boss Bernardo Provenzano.
A long investigative journey started by Riina
The operation is the latest act of a long investigative process that had already allowed the state to secure the illicit assets acquired over time by Salvatore Riina and Calogero Giuseppe Lo Bue, already affected by confiscation decrees. Lo Bue had already been definitively condemned for having favored Bernardo Provenzano’s inaction. To the Lo Bue, seriously suspected of belonging to the mafia association, a series of assets, fictitiously registered to third parties, acquired in the absence of compatible legitimate income, were attributable.
Confiscate homes, bank accounts, land and corporate assets
Confiscate homes, current accounts, savings books, land and company assets. The people involved are already burdened with numerous criminal records and established links with the mafia. In particular, Rosario Salvatore Lo Bue is an apical member of the Corleone family, inserted in the homonymous mafia district, over the years in contact with leading exponents such as Salvatore Riina and Leoluca Bagarella.
Grizzaffi had also been sentenced for having favored Brusca’s inaction
Mario Salvatore Grizzaffi was definitively convicted of having committed an extortion with mafia methods, as part of the broader investigative program that had shed light on the network of support for the boss Bernardo Provenzano and on the reorganization of the association after the capture of the Mafia leader. in 2006 in Corleone, Montagna dei Cavalli. Previously he was also condemned for the aiding and absconding of Giovanni Brusca.
Seizure of assets also against Pitarresi
The Carabinieri of the investigative unit of the Provincial Command of Palermo also carried out a seizure of assets against Giampiero Pitarresi, for a total estimated value of about six hundred thousand euros, consisting of two houses in Misilmeri, a car and seven bank accounts. Pitarresi, arrested in December 2015 as part of the “Panta Rei” operation of the Carabinieri of Palermo, is currently detained because he was sentenced – in the second degree – to 14 years of imprisonment because he was considered intraneous to “Cosa Nostra”, in his territorial articulation of the district of Misilmeri, family of Villabate. Already in 2009 Pitarresi had suffered a conviction for mafia association for having been part of the group that, on several occasions, had provided help to the fugitive boss Bernardo Provenzano. After years of militancy as a partner with particularly important tasks, he had taken full control of the mafia family of Villabate, as manager of the cash register and principal of all illegal actions in the territory, including extortion and drug trafficking.