Genoa, inquiry into 30 local police officers for abuse from 2023
The prosecutor's office concluded an investigation into alleged mistreatment carried out by officers of the anti-degradation unit. Former councillor Gambino and former commander Giurato are also under investigation.
Abuse by local police in Genoa: thirty under investigation
In early November, the Genoa prosecutor's office closed preliminary investigations into alleged abuse committed between 2023 and the early months of 2025 by some officers of the Genoese local police. According to ilpost.it, the investigation involves 30 police officers, former Security Councillor Sergio Gambino (Brothers of Italy, self-suspended from the party) and former local police commander Gianluca Giurato.
The investigations lasted almost two years. In October 2024, two local police officers had contacted Gambino during an electoral aperitif, informing him of abuse committed by some colleagues from the Urban Security/Anti-degradation Unit department. Gambino, unaware that he was under interception for another investigation, subsequently sent messages to commander Giurato asking him to carry out internal investigations without reporting the matter to the prosecutor's office, all coinciding with the campaign for regional elections in which Gambino himself was a candidate.
Giurato allegedly executed the order by summarily questioning some officers from the involved department and informing them of the accusations made by the two colleagues. In November 2024 he submitted a report to the prosecutor's office in which he stated he had found no evidence of the alleged facts, requesting evaluation of the criminal position of the two complainants. In this way, according to the investigation documents, he had intended to "discredit the complainants".
The two officers subsequently approached the prosecutor's office independently with a complaint that initiated the official investigation. Subsequently they suffered reprisals and threats of which Gambino was allegedly aware.
The officers are under investigation for aggravated assault motivated by racial hatred, ideological fraud, embezzlement, omission of official duties and perjury. Gambino and Giurato are accused of delayed reporting and aiding and abetting; Giurato additionally of disclosure of official secrets. Both are already under investigation in another inquiry into false information spread against the then mayoral candidate Silvia Salis. Gambino is also under investigation for corruption and abuse of office in a third inquiry.
From the complaint by the two officers, the existence of a WhatsApp group called "Those good lads" emerged, in which dozens of members of the Anti-degradation Unit described their violent behaviour towards detained persons. According to the prosecutor's office, the officers threatened, directed racial slurs at and beat the detainees, causing in some cases broken noses and various traumas. In the chat the violence was referred to as "chocolates" or "slaps".
The mistreatment allegedly occurred during transport in cars and in police offices; in further statements the officers described them as acts of self-harm. One officer allegedly boasted to a colleague of having punched a detainee: "Those bastards need to be beaten like they do back home". Some officers allegedly stole money from detainees. In one case documented by the prosecutor's office, officers allegedly seized drugs without recording it in a statement, before having it found on another person.
Gambino had also described further details of the accusations to Giurato: arrests without solid grounds, appropriation of seized drug doses and creation of a petty cash fund with money from seizures for personal expenses, including the use of a seized scooter in the office.
The detained persons who allegedly suffered violence confirmed what was gathered by the prosecutor's office when questioned. Mayor Silvia Salis stated that precautionary administrative measures have been adopted against the officers under investigation: they have been assigned to different duties and the Anti-degradation Unit has received new officers.
Source: Google News IT — Crime (it)