Hydra Sentence: The Network of Lombardy Mafia Linking Politicians, Managers and Contracts
On page 1660 of the judgment's reasoning, Judge Mancini documents the "relational capital" of the Mafia Consortium in the North: contacts with parliamentarians, administrators and public officials.
The "relational capital" of the Mafia Consortium in the North
On page 1660 of the reasoning in the Hydra sentence, according to reporting by Il Fatto Quotidiano - Cronaca, a detailed picture emerges of the so-called "relational capital" built by the Mafia Consortium in the North. Last January, Judge Emanuele Mancini had sentenced the organisation's leadership to over 500 years in prison in total. In the reasoning, Mancini describes "a high capacity for penetration of the mafia association within entrepreneurial spheres as well as institutional and para-institutional sectors".
The judge explicitly speaks of relations of "connivance and collaboration with entrepreneurial sectors, subjects belonging to the public administration, as well as with operators in strategic sectors, including police forces, officials of the financial administration and healthcare personnel operating in public and private facilities". A "complacent proximity" which, beyond unlawful conduct not proven, strengthens the association internally and consolidates its external projection onto the economic and social fabric.
Parliamentarians and candidates: relations with national politics
The reasoning devotes considerable space to contacts with figures in the political world at national and local level. The document cites "direct or mediated contacts with parliamentarians, local administrators and candidates for elective office", through which the organisation offered "support, intermediation and utilities of various kinds", receiving in return "willingness or privileged access to relevant decision-making contexts".
Filippo Crea, indicated in the reasoning as one of the Consortium's leaders and representative of the 'ndrangheta from Melito Porto Salvo, is intercepted while explaining: "My relatives are all there, now men and women, we have… we have a nice package of votes, because I can bring Senators to Europe (…). Inside Milan I have one of ours from Forza Italia and it matters there".
On page 1685, the judge defines as "highly significant the conversations from which emerge the relations of Gioacchino Amico" — representative of the Senese clan, now a justice collaborator — "and Raimondo Orlando with Carmela Bucalo and Paola Frassinetti, both deputies of the Fratelli d'Italia parliamentary group, as well as with their respective collaborators Alice Murgia and Alessandra Gazzelloni". All four are not under investigation. Intercepted with Giancarlo Vestiti, also of the Senese faction, Amico declares: "Next week we go down to Rome to a friend of mine, someone who follows 4, 5 deputies (…). We have to go to Rome, we get sanification contracts".
The name of Amico is moreover used by Bucalo herself, who passes it on to a lawyer with a personal matter to resolve. The reasoning also notes that Amico "boasted knowledge of FdI Senator Mario Mantovani" in relation to the management of canteens, cleaning and maintenance of green spaces at some Lombardy residential care facilities.
The League and the Greater North: Monica Rizzi
The reasoning also certifies contacts with former Lega regional assessor Monica Rizzi, not under investigation and founder of the Greater North movement. Rizzi allegedly favoured relations between Amico and Silvia Botticchio, also not under investigation, candidate for mayor for the Municipality of Ossimo in the 2021 elections.
Vigevano: deputy mayor and councillor in Tripodi's network
From parliament down to local administrations. The reasoning takes as an example the Municipality of Vigevano and the relations of Demetrio Tripodi, another representative of the mafia consortium, with "local politicians of the Municipality of Vigevano": in particular Antonello Galliani, in his capacity as deputy mayor, and Nicola Scardillo, in his capacity as councillor. Galliani — today provincial coordinator of Forza Italia in Pavia, not under investigation — maintained with Tripodi relations of "constant and reiterated" nature, "not presenting a merely institutional nature, but rather strictly functional to the pursuit of the economic and entrepreneurial interests of the group", according to what emerges from monitoring of telephone records.
Scardillo, former councillor for Security of the Municipality of Vigevano and also not under investigation, maintained with Tripodi "regular contacts to obtain the assignment of building works, both private and public, using companies formally registered to nominees but actually controlled by the criminal group".
Carate Brianza: votes guaranteed for the FdI candidate
In the relational network of the Consortium appears also Luca Faraone, not under investigation, "candidate in the 2023 municipal elections for the Municipality of Carate Brianza in the Fratelli d'Italia list and for whom the Crea group moves to guarantee him the votes necessary to be subsequently elected". Boss Santo Crea recommends to his associates not to overdo the package of votes: "Without overdoing it, or else they say 'why so many?' The right amount, so it doesn't make a bad impression and it works out! And then he makes himself available".
Public managers and Milan's Ortomercato
The network concerns not only politics. The reasoning also documents relations with officials from the public sector. Among the cases cited, that between Giancarlo Vestiti and Stefano Zani — not under investigation — former general director of Sogemi, the company held by the Municipality of Milan for the management of the Ortomercato and food markets.
The group's interest in that sector continues also after Vestiti's arrest, through contacts with Giorgio Gnoli — not under investigation — representative of the Ageas consortium, subcontractor to Sogemi. In December 2020, Amico envisaged "the start of cleaning/porterage services and further activities at Sogemi starting from the new year". Intercepted, Amico explains: "Then we are also negotiating and closing, beginning of January also with Sogemi, the Ortomercato and the fish market (…). The whole management of the ortomerc".
Source: Il Fatto Quotidiano - Cronaca