Judges in the so-called a big
Rome graft case, previously dubbed Capital Mafia, said the
criminal activity linked to the convictions handed down on July
20 aren't technically "mafia-method" crimes.
In the document issued Tuesday explaining the court's July 20
ruling, the judges specified the crime of "mafia method"
requires "exercise of the force of intimidation".
They said the crimes in the case can't be classified as
Article 416 bis (mafia association) crimes but rather resulted
from "systematic use of corruption".
In the case, mobsters teamed up with businessmen to syphon
off millions of euros in public contracts.
The two ringleaders, former rightist militant and ex-gangster
Massimo Carminati and leftwing cooperatives chief Salvatore
Buzzi, said they could make more from contracts on running Roma
and migrant camps than they could have if they had been dealing
drugs.
In July July 20 Carminati, a former gangster and ex-member of
the NAR right-wing terrorist group, was found guilty by a Rome
court over allegations he was part of an organisation that
muscled in on city contracts worth millions, and was sentenced
to 20 years in prison.
Buzzi got 19 years.
The accusation of mafia association was scrubbed for 19 of
the 46 defendants in what had until then been known as the
Capital Mafia case, including ringleaders Carminati and Buzzi.
Carminati said he was "satisfied" with the 20-year sentence.
Judicial sources said he did not get a longer term, 28 years,
because the charge of mafia association was scrubbed.
Carminati also said "now they must immediately remove me from
41 bis", referring to the tough prison regime for mafiosi.
Carminati's lawyer Giosue' Naso said the judges said "the
mafia doesn't exist in Rome, as we've been saying for 30
months".
He said that, despite this, the verdicts were "absurdly and
unusually severe".
He said Rome Chief Prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone was
"certainly the beaten one", adding "I don't know if there are
any winners".
Capital Mafia prosecutor Paolo Ielo said after securing a
total of 250 years in jail for the defendants that "sentences
must be respected" even though judges scrubbed the charge of
mafia association and left only simple conspiracy in their
sentences.
"The judges turned us down on some points but sentences must
be respected," he said, adding "we will wait for the explanation
of the verdict".
Former Rome migrants panel chief Luca Odevaine got six and a
half years while former Rome council assembly chair Mirko
Coratti of ex-premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic
Party got six years.
The former Rome city council whip for three-time former
premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi's now-defunct People
of Freedom party, Luca Gramazio, got 11 years.
Buzzi's wife and secretary were also found guilty in the
trial.
The wife, Alessandra Garrone, got 13 and a half years for
helping her husband commit his crimes.
The secretary, Nadia Cerrito, who kept Buzzi's books,
received a five-year sentence.
Three of the 46 defendants were acquitted.
They were Rocco Rotolo and Salvatore Ruggiero, for whom
prosecutors asked 16 years in jail, and the former general
manager of waste and rubbish company AMA, Giovanni Fiscon, for
whom a five-year term was asked.
Prosecutors had said Rotolo and Ruggiero had acted as
go-betweens between Capital Mafia ringleaders and the
Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia.
Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi was in court for the reading out of
the sentences. The city was a civil plaintiff.
"Today is a victory for Rome's citizens," she said.
Carminati and Buzzi were caught on a wiretap saying they
could make more out of contracts for Roma and migrant camps than
they could by dealing drugs.
The contracts the gang illicitly obtained also included those
for public transport and the upkeep of the city's green areas.
The Italian media have now changed the name of the case to
"Middle Earth", a term used by Carminati to described the gang's
position between the underground and the world of white-collar
crime and corruption.
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