'Ndrangheta assets worth 215 mn seized

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, April 18 - Assets worth approximately 215 million euros were seized Monday by the Italian financial police (GdF) between the southern regions of Calabria and Campania. The assets were seized from an entrepreneur believed to have links with the Piromalli clan of Gioia Tauro, Calabria. Investigators say that economic and criminal ties between the entrepreneur and the 'Ndrangheta clan had emerged during an inquiry that showed an enormous difference between the man's assets and the income he declared to tax authorities. Assets and shares of 6 companies, 85 real estate properties, 42 financial ties and cash worth almost 700,000 euros were seized. The largest shopping center in Calabria was among the assets seized from the man, held to be the "entrepreneurial center" of the clan: Parco Annunziata of the entrepreneur Alfonso Annunziata. The man was of Campania region origins but moved to Gioia Tauro in the late 1980s. The center had been seized by a judicial ruling in March last year as part of Operation Bucefalo against the Piromalli clan. This time the measure - issued by the Reggio Calabria court after a request filed by the state prosecutor's office - is a preventative measure. The shopping center is currently being managed by an external authority and investigators have called it an "exemplary case" of sequestered asset management.
    Annunziata was arrested for links to a mafia-related criminal organization as part of Operation Bucefalo.
    The preliminary investigative judge of Reggio Calabria stated in the arrest warrant motivations that Annunziata "is not a victim and was not forced to aid the Piromalli clan. To the contrary: he has long been linked to members of the family leaders of the clan and is thus someone who has for 20 years been working voluntarily and in full awareness at the service of the clan's business and economic aims", calling him the "entrepreneurial heart" of the criminal clan. The investigation found that the entrepreneur has had strong links with the clan since the early 1980s.