Italy refuses to enforce sentence of Sicilian mafioso's son convicted of drug trafficking in São Paulo
Italy rejected a Brazilian request to enforce a 5 years and 10 months prison sentence against Leonardo Badalamenti, son of a Cosa Nostra leader, who was convicted of drug trafficking in São Paulo.
Italy refuses to enforce sentence of Cosa Nostra mafioso's son convicted in São Paulo
Italy denied Brazil's request to enforce in Italian territory the sentence against Leonardo Badalamenti, son of the historic Sicilian mafia boss Gaetano Badalamenti. Badalamenti was sentenced by São Paulo courts to 5 years and 10 months in prison, in closed regime, for drug trafficking. He is currently free and resides in Palermo.
According to g1.globo.com, which obtained access to the document on Tuesday (8th), the decision is contained in an official note from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated 24 July, sent to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The text reproduces a verbal note received by the Brazilian Embassy in Rome, in which Italian authorities state it is not possible to enforce a foreign conviction without an international agreement that expressly provides for this procedure.
Italy maintained that the European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, signed by Brazil and Italy in 1983, does not apply to the case. According to the document, Brazil did not ratify the Additional Protocol to the convention, adopted in Strasbourg in 1997.
False identities and fifteen years in Bixiga
Badalamenti lived for approximately 15 years in the Bixiga neighbourhood, in central São Paulo, using false identities. His first criminal record in the country dates from March 2007: on 9 March, at around 3pm, civil police stopped him on foot at the intersection of Brigadeiro Luiz Antônio and Paulista avenues, after receiving intelligence information about the transport of narcotics by a man linked to the Italian mafia.
In the rear pocket of one of the seats of the vehicle driven by him, investigators found a plastic envelope containing 55.2 grammes of cocaine powder. According to an expert examination report attached to the proceedings, the quantity and purity of the drug would be sufficient to produce approximately 183 individual portions of 0.3 gramme. During the stop, he identified himself with the name Carlos Massetti. At the police station, he stated he was a drug user in treatment and claimed the drug was for personal consumption, presenting a report from a private clinic. He was released in a custody hearing.
Second arrest reveals true identity
In May 2009, Badalamenti was arrested again — this time by Interpol, with support from the Federal Police, in Bixiga itself. The operation was investigating an attempted fraud against international banks. It was on this occasion that authorities discovered that the man presenting himself as Carlos Massetti was, in fact, Leonardo Badalamenti. Years later, police identified that he also used the name Ricardo Cavalcante Vitale.
Gaetano Badalamenti, Leonardo's father, was identified as one of the main leaders of Cosa Nostra. Born in Cinisi, Sicily, he died in 2004, aged 80, whilst serving a sentence in a prison in the United States.
After being released from the Provisional Detention Centre III of Pinheiros, Leonardo Badalamenti returned to Italy.
Conviction and partial acquittals
On 25 November 2015, the 25th Criminal Court of the Central Forum of Barra Funda sentenced Badalamenti to 5 years and 10 months in prison, with initial closed regime, for drug trafficking, in addition to payment of 583 daily fines. During the proceedings, he stated he was a user and had intended to buy only 3 grammes for personal consumption, declaring he did not know how the rest of the drug had arrived in his car.
The defence pointed out alleged contradictions in the police officers' statements and requested the nullification of the proceedings due to the absence of a witness considered key, who had been missing for more than seven years since the flagrant offence. The judge, in handing down the sentence, partially upheld the Public Prosecution Service's accusation, relying on expert examination reports and statements from civil police officers to dismiss the thesis of possession for personal use.
Badalamenti was, however, acquitted of two of the three original charges. In the case of ideological falsity, the judge declared the prescription of punitive intent in the abstract — the accusation had been received on 18 December 2014, more than seven years after the flagrant arrest in 2007. He was also acquitted of the charge of association for trafficking, due to insufficient evidence.
Defence celebrates Italian decision
Badalamenti's lawyer, Eduardo Maurício, stated that the decision represents, in the defence's assessment, that "justice has been done". According to him, Italy followed the law in refusing the request for transfer of sentence enforcement recently formulated by Brazil.
Maurício added that the refusal also resulted from illegalities which, according to the defence, marked the proceedings that resulted in the conviction in Brazil — among them, violation of due process of law, full defence, contradictory proceedings and judicial impartiality. For the defence, the Italian decision follows the same line as a previous decision that denied Badalamenti's extradition, equally requested by Brazil in the past.
Source: Google News BR — Crime