b.

Criminal presence in Sicily10 Province of Palermo The ongoing judicial action11, opposed to the continuing operation of the mafia organizations present in the territory12, would constitute an additional element of criticality for Cosa Nostra whose structure would still be deprived of the collegial organ of the summit, in fact, among other things, of the difficulty in finding authoritative leadership.

This criticality, which affects the total balance of criminals, can only affect itself within Cosa Nostra with the accumulation of tensions that could evolve in bloody episodes13 also because of the relegation of elderly men of honor who would like to restore old balances and previous positions of power.

The numerous discards of subjects who, in the past, have covered positions of summit have involved in particular the sending of TRABIA and that of VILLABATE, while in the capital of Region stand out the regents of the two most influential families of the sending of PORTA NUOVA and some affiliates to the sending of RESUTTANA.

The dated renunciation of open opposition strategies to the state, together with the absence of a charismatic leadership that governs the structure of the summit, cannot however lead to the mistaken belief that Cosa Nostra is now weakened or that it has lost its contiguity with the vital tissue in the Palermo or regional territory.

The statements made by the Attorney General Republic of Palermo on the occasion of the inauguration ceremony of the judicial year14 go exactly in this direction:

"Cosa Nostra is in an objective situation of deep difficulty that also derives from the investigations that were carried out and which brought on 16 January to

The extreme fragmentation of the Sicilian criminal reality involves the graphic representation of the only main components, whose positioning on map is purely indicative.

Specifically, the constant commitment of the Police Forces in the district of Palermo has also brought the 16 gennaio 2023 to the capture of Matteo MESSINA DENARO, considered a leading figure for more than thirty years in the province of Trapani, with a role of absolute reference also for the resolution of issues related to Cosa Nostra.

In this regard it is shown that, in the six months under review, various intimidating acts have occurred, as well as damages to institutional subjects, professionals, associations, consortia, political and trade union movements.

A questi si aggiungano una serie di atti incendiari in danno di attività imprenditoriali nella provincia. Si segnala, altresì, che il 16 novembre 2022 i Carabinieri di Palermo hanno eseguito una ordinanza di custodia cautelare (OCC n. 16474/22 RGNR e n.

9686/22 RGGIP, issued by the GIP of the Tribunal Palermo the 14 novembre 2022) under a subject for abusive detention of weapons and mafia-type criminal association.

In the sense, the engulfed last semester is reported to an impaired Palermo considered "near" to environments of Cosa Nostra.

After a few hours from the fact it constituted another prejudiced, he too Palermo, asserting to have killed the man for sentimental reasons but, being the murderer in question nephew of a man of honor and extortortor of the family of PALERMO CENTRO ( PORTA NUOVA), it cannot be excluded that the fact of blood can be traced back to mafia dynamics.

Also worth mentioning is the murder of a convicted felon "near" to the active partnership in the sending of PORTA NUOVA, consumed the 30 giugno 2022.

On July 5, a subject was formed at the Carabinieri which, assuming the paternity of the murder, reconnected the motive to a quarrel for futile reasons, however, showing no repentance or regret.

On the other hand, the investigation "Vento" (later described) allowed to frame the facts in a more articulate criminal context, in fact, 18 were placed in a firm state affiliated to the mandate of PORTA NUOVA including the victim's son and the consurrect, defendants of mafia-type criminal association, drug trafficking conspiracy, extortion and robbery.

Celebrated the 28 gennaio 2023.

the activity carried out and the results achieved by Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate

Semetral Report To Parliament

2nd semester 3. Sicilian organized crime

capture of Matteo Messina Money, but not only from that. But Cosa Nostra... is anything but defeat. At this time, while we are talking about the current investigative evidence, we are showing that there is a very strong tension within the organization aimed at attempting the umpteenth restructuring. ...

No one can think precisely – and this is a phenomenon for me of concern – because it was also said by authoritative exponents of the judiciary, not of the palermitan, of course, that Cosa Nostra has been defeated and just...

Be careful then to pass, and the danger there is, a deeply wrong message... This is the time to increase efforts to reach the defeat of Cosa Nostra and not to limit itself to an abstract manifestation of satisfaction for the most important results that have been achieved".

Cosa Nostra palermitana is traditionally divided still in sendings and families whose numerical consistency would remain unchanged both in the capital and in the province15.

In this regard, it is recalled what is contained in the precautionary order of the investigation "Internal sending II"16 the GIP of the Tribunal of Palermo in which it is renamed the mandate of NOCE in NOCE-CRUILLAS in view of the apical role covered by some subjects of the CRUILLAS family, already an integral part of the mandate itself.

Investigative activities of the semester are particularly active in the fields of drug trafficking and extortion.

With regard to the latter illicit, the group tends to predilise, compared to the past, more or less occult forms of taxation of labor and supplies, more sustainable than the extortion of cash, as recently stated also by the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Palermo in his intervention on the occasion of the inauguration of the Judiciary Year 2023, "Cosa Nostra control over the territory

Similarly, there are widespread and systematic extortionive forms and control of the territory of various nature: from the contribution "forced" for the organization of the festivals at the cc.dd. "riffe", a kind of private lottery with non-money prizes17.

The traffic of narcotic substances still constitutes the main financing channel of the entire organization, as confirmed also by the Procurator of Palermo "is a phenomenon that should not be underestimated, not only for the falls on the territory to which we assist daily, but because it produces a quantity of income that allows on the one hand to return to pollute the markets and on the other to strengthen the organization.

So, one of the lines of the future of Cosa Nostra I imagine could be this"18.

In recent years the territorial competence of the joints has documented, compared to the past, characters of greater flexibility according to dynamic balances and alternations of power due to the changing "inter-mandamental" agreements.

Below better described.

As reported in the "Centro" operation described below.

From the conference "Judicial initiatives and fight against mafia crime: from 1978 to 2023" of 19 gennaio 2023.

the activity carried out and the results achieved by Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate

Semetral Report To Parliament

2nd semester 3. Sicilian organized crime

The existence of a kind of mafia "direction" in the management of the squares of palermitane is confirmed by the investigative evidence found in the semester with the investigations "Vento"19, Wind II"20 and "Centro"21, whose results have crystallized the stable presence of Cosa Nostra and, in this case, of the mandate of PORTA NUOVA, in the organization and management of the different squares of spaccio located in the area of the Palermo movida.

In particular, the 6 luglio 2022, as part of the "Vento" operation, the Carabinieri performed a detachment of delitto22 at the expense of 18 defendants of criminal conspiracy aimed at drug trafficking and extortion, aggravated by the mafia method.

The investigation also made it possible to shed light on the murder of a subject "near" to the consortium of Porta Nuova consumed the 30 giugno 2022 and initially attributable to a quarrel for personal reasons.

Well from the reading of the order emerged the role of summit covered by the victim, together with two other subjects, "...to have been part of the Mafia family of Porta Nuova, to then direct and organize, together with...omissis..., the Mafia mandate of Porta Nuova starting from March 2019, as well as to have given orders and directives to its subordinates, participated in meetings subjected to the exchange of information criminals and other

The subsequent investigations, confluenced in the investigation called "Vento II" concluded by the Arma of Palermo the 16 luglio 2022, in addition to confirm "...that the main criminal activities managed and directed by the association are the trade of drugs and the activity of extortion of traders and entrepreneurs", have allowed to draw under arrest also the wife of the victim of the agglomeration of the 30 giugno 2022

Another subject of the same ruling is a man of honor of the PALERMO family CENTRO, responsible for the management of the "Vucciria", whose son, on the other hand, was murdered by gunshots in the evening of the 31 maggio 2021.

The next 15 dicembre 2022, the Carabinieri have performed a new precautionary ruling, cd. operation "Centro"23, at the expense of 9 suspected subjects of criminal conspiracy type mafia, extortion aggravated and traffic of narcotic substances, considered components of the PALERMO mafia family

The investigation, in addition to identifying how to manage the plazas imposed on the "capi-piazza" and the pushers authorized in the districts Ballarò, Vucciria and Capo, has also documented the commission of extortion in damage of commercial exercises in the territory of competence of the family of PALERMO

Pen. n. 10193/2021 RGNR Mod 21- DDA Palermo.

OCC n. 10193/21 RGNR and n. 7004/21 RGGIP, issued by the GIP of the Tribunal of Palermo the 15 luglio 2022.

Decree n. 10193/2021 RGNR delitto dated 21 DDA 14.12.2022, subsequently validated with ruling n. 10193/2021 RGNR and n. 4004/2021 RGGIP of 16.12.2022.

Decree of n. 10193/2021 RGNR, issued by the DDA of Palermo the 4 luglio 2022. The next 9 luglio 2022, the GIP of the Tribunal of Palermo validated the stop with the OCC n. 10193/2021 RGNR and n. 7004/21 RGGIP

Which follows the previous operations "Vento" and "Vento II".

That includes the families of PORTA NUOVA, BORGO VECCHIO, KALSA and PALERMO CENTRO.

the activity carried out and the results achieved by Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate

SEMETRAL REPORT TO PARLIAMENT CENTRO, exercised by means of the authorizations to "open and transfer of the commercial exercises falling within its criminal jurisdiction and to intervene in favor of debtors...", to the management of "... rhonal markets, deciding the subjects authorized to install an umbrella and sell the goods...", as well as to the collection of money through the cc.d.

"reffe" "...behind which hid a form of extortion for the imposition of the purchase of tickets of a "busive" lottery managed by the family's referents".

The 19 luglio 2022, in the context of the operation "Interrogation II"25, the Polizia di Stato has performed a ruling with 9 subjects responsible for mafia-type criminal association, extortion with the aggravating mafia method, fictitious heading of goods and more.

The investigation, a natural continuation of the operation "Interior Mandamento"26 which allowed to draw under arrest exponents and gregari of the mafia mandate NOCE-CRUILLAS, has struck leaders and affiliates to the Mafia family of ALTARELLO which, together with those of NOCE and of CRUILLAS, form the said mandate.

In particular, it has been documented as the exhibitors of commercial activities, the artisans and the entrepreneurs of the area were subjected to constant extortionive pressure "...capillarmente placed in existence, as already established, by the mafia families of the Noce-Cruillas Mandamento".

Also the investigation "Fenice"27, completed by the Armament the 24 ottobre 2022, has documented numerous extortive episodes consumed by leaders and gregari of the mafia family of MISILMERI in the damage of entrepreneurs and traders active mainly in the avicle field, in the food sector and the realization of plants for the distribution of carburetors.

The survey also outlined new assets and dynamics of the MISILMERI family, in which a subject, discarded 6 July 202128 and immediately reinserted into the associative fabric of Misilmeri led by a mafioso "young rampoll", he would "...with threat consisted in manifesting his belonging to the mafia association Cosa Nostra, carried out suitable and direct acts in an unequivocal manner to obtain an unfair profit with others damage through the request to...omissis... members in society... Omissis... , and aimed at forcing them to pour, as a lace, a gift for parties...".

Nel medesimo quadro, anche gli esiti dell'indagine "Harmattan"29, conclusa dalla DIA di Palermo, che hanno permesso di identificare i componenti di un sodalizio dedito all'importazione di ingenti quantitativi di stupefacenti nel territorio siciliano, nonché di individuare la località ove trascorreva la latitanza l'esponente di vertice tratto in arresto, su indicazioni della DIA l'11 novembre 2022 ad Antalya (Turchia)30, in quanto accusato di traffico internazionale di stupefacenti31 aggravato dalla finalità di agevolare la cosca di 'ndrangheta dei PELLE-VOTTARI

OCC n. 4926/2022 RGNR and n. 3780/2022 RGGIP, issued by the GIP of the Tribunal of Palermo the 12 luglio 2022.

OCC n. 4926/2022 RGNR and n. 3780/2022 RGGIP issued by the Tribunal of Palermo the 13 maggio 2022.

OCC n. 7681/2022 RGNR and n. 6192/2022 RGGIP, issued by the GIP of the Tribunal of Palermo the 17 ottobre 2022.

Following the expiation of the punishment by mafia association.

As part of the proc. pen. 8967/2022 RGNR-DDA Palermo, mod. 21.

From the local Police - Intelligence Department (IB) and that of Organized Crime and Anti-contrabanding (KOM).

Directly from South America by unidentified suppliers.

2nd semester 3. Sicilian organized crime

by San Luca (RC). This confirms that important channels of supply of narcotic substances for Cosa Nostra are ensured by qualified reports maintained with the Calabrian mafia clans.

Un'ulteriore dimostrazione dei rapporti tra cosa nostra palermitana e i fornitori di stupefacenti calabresi, oltre che campani, perviene dagli esiti dell'indagine "Gold green"32 conclusa, il 16 novembre 2022 dall'Arma dei carabinieri, con l'esecuzione di un'ordinanza cautelare a carico di 15 responsabili di associazione per delinquere di tipo mafioso finalizzata al traffico di sostanze stupefacenti, 3 dei quali, in virtù dei privilegiati rapporti con gli affiliati alle famiglie mafiose di PALERMO CENTRO33 e PARTANNA MONDELLO34, erano riusciti ad acquistare - per il tramite di soggetti operanti in Campania e in Calabria - ingenti quantitativi di droga destinati alle piazze di spaccio del capoluogo siciliano:

"In the course of the conversation the inquisitors discussed a game of astonishment that was in the availability of the common Neapolitan suppliers, so they organized a trip to Naples to plan their transport."

The investigations also documented how the proceeds of the shoot were used for the sustenance of the families of the detainees of the CIACULLI dispatch.

The appeal, as it emerges from the survey, by promoters to scams in insurance institutions to recover the sums of money needed to purchase drugs.

"Also the...omissis... he referred to his interlocutor that at that time there was a possibility to make profits with a lower risk, referring truthfully to the insurance scams put in place by the family.... Omissis... to obtain the liquidity necessary for the purchase of the narcotic " thanks to a consolidated system in force of which the investigators, after the stipulation of several life policies, waited for a period of at least six months before to declare (falsely) the death of the insured to cash out the insurance premium".

The precautionary measure has reached, among others, two Calabrian subjects stably inserted in the criminal group:

"in fact, he ascertained how the latter had been activated by [omissis] to recover some "cards" SIM, evidently intended to ensure a confidential communication channel between Calabrian suppliers and palermitan buyers".

During the execution of the investigations under investigation, 8 couriers were arrested in scourgence with the total seizure of 185 kilos of drugs (cocaine, hashish and crack) and about 52 thousand euros in cash.

In the same period of reference, other contrasting activities were carried out in several restrictive measures issued to persons involved in drug trafficking35. Although these anti-drug operations have not emerged direct links

Proc. pen. 16541/18 RGNR and n. 4992/2022 RGGIP, ruling issued the 7 novembre 2022 from the Tribunal of Palermo.

Sending PORTA NEW.

Sending TOMMASO NATALE-SAN LORENZO.

The 14 settembre 2022, the Guardia di Finanza of Palermo has undergone an individual carrying 30 vacuum transparent plastic casings containing 33 kg of cocaine, for a retail value of approximately 2, 5 million euros.

9 dicembre 2022, Polizia di Stato Palermo arrested 2 subjects who had concealed, on board the cars on which they traveled, about 70 kg of hashish divided into about 700 pieces. The 14 dicembre 2022, the Carabinieri of Palermo have performed at the ruling n. 2611/2018 RGNR and n.

2470/2018 RGGIP of the 5 dicembre 2022, at the expense of 31 persons, also in the provinces of Catania, Syracuse, Trapani, Messina and Cosenza, responsible for criminal conspiracy aimed at the sale, purchase, transport, production, sales and unlawful detention of drugs.

The operation, called "Dike", has distracted an organization dedicated to the spaccio in the popular district Sperone (PA), with annual revenues of almost 2 M€.

the activity carried out and the results achieved by Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate

SEMESTRAL REPORT ON PARLIAMENT of the arrested with mafia exponents, it is not to exclude the direction of Cosa Nostra in the profitable illicit sector.

The GIP of Palermo in the premise of the ruling cautionre36, performed by Carabinieri of Monreale the 12 luglio 2022 as part of the "Panaro" operation, initiated by 4 persons responsible for detention, sale and sale of drugs, claims that:

"the phenomenon of drug trafficking is the most immediate and easy source of support for large criminal associations of the mafia and not only.

In particular, the organisational structure typical of the spaccio allows the high leaders to exonerate themselves from any responsibility, in the event that subjects even periodically used in the squares of the organization's spaccio had to be discovered by the forces of the Order; in the event that this should happen, the organizers replace the losses suffered, enlisting other subjects easily available, given the contexts of social and economic degradation from which the low hand originates".

Cosa Nostra, as anticipated, continues to pursue the mentioned submerged strategy aimed, among other things, at infiltration of the legal economy.

In the sense, the 12 luglio 2022, in Palermo, the Guardia di Finanza performed the operation "Sottwest"37 against 4 subjects responsible for mafia-type criminal association and fraudulent transfer of assets, with the preventive seizure contextual of some companies.

The investigations involved in particular two palermitan entrepreneurs who, managing for interposed person an articulated corporate system, would have put in place in many ways aimed at facilitating and strengthening the economic-criminal interests of the Mafia mandate of PAGLIARELLI.

One of them, "giving further evidence of qualified and concrete contiguity to the palermitane joints of Cosa Nostra - has assured, instrumentalizing in an illicit way his activity as a business entrepreneur, systematic and continuous support to apical representatives of the sending of Pagliarelli", realizing, in a prolonged temporal arc, multiple conducts of support in favor of the aforementioned leadership.

In the investigation "Fenice"38, however, the interest of families emerges and, in particular, that of MISILMERI, in the management of the services connected directly or indirectly to the local health, such as funeral service and the transfer of the sick to a nosocomio of Palermo:

"it is clear and in a serious sense extremely symptomatic evidence of the findings that have been carried out within the said bar that they give a sure account of the entire management of the sick transport services by means of ambulances and the management of the connected funeral honors, in the hospitals of Palermo, Civic and Polyclinic as total appannation of Cosa Nostra".

In fact, such activities, frequently run by individuals or, in any case, "at the disposal" of mafia consortia, fall into the services essential to the community, are exempt from the risks of enterprise such as crisis or economic stagnation and, often, are also recipients of large public funding.

As part of the investigation, the role played by an exponent at the head of the MISILMERI family "... intervened in the resolution

OCCC n. 2140/2022 RGNR and n. 1783/2022 RGGIP of 5 luglio 2022.

No. 7061/2020 RGNR and n. 3864/2021 RGGIP of 6 luglio 2022.

OCC n. 7681/2022 RGNR and n. 6192/2022 RGGIP, issued by the GIP of the Tribunal of Palermo the 17 ottobre 2022.

2nd semester 3. Sicilian organized crime

of matters decisive for the full operation, illicitness, of the associations in question through meetings in which the rules were laid down to ensure the operation under the mafia monopoly of the firms.

It must be assumed that the activities in question are carried out by means of unwritten pacts between the various societies or cooperatives, in some cases indefinitely to the status of men of honor aimed at evading or bypassing the control activity carried out by the judicial police".

Confirmed 39 also the interest of Cosa Nostra in exercising, in its favor, the free determination of the vote as emerged from the results of the completed activity, the 23 settembre 2022 from the Carabinieri of Palermo, with the execution of a precautionary ruling40 charged with 3 subjects accused of mafia-related electoral exchange.

Among these a candidate in the elections of the Sicilian Regional Assembly of 25 settembre 2022 which he would "accept, through the intermediary... Omissis... , the promise to obtain vows from...omissis, a subject belonging to our own41, also through the manner in which art.

416-bis c.p., in exchange for the promise of delivery of money, then actually provided, as well as the availability to satisfy the interests and needs of the mafia association".

During the course of the activities, money and specific promises were documented to involve "directly", at the time of election, its runs in lucrose activities subsidized with funds of the European Union and other financial institutions provided by law.

In the field of public procurement there are also shortcomings, aimed primarily at the conditioning of the procedural process of competition, which would involve entrepreneurs, technicians and public officials always adapted from easy gains.

In the sense, the 21 ottobre 2022, the Guardia di Finanza has concluded the operation "Sorella Sanità II"42 with 11 subjects (delegated directors/dirigents of companies, lawyers and officials) held responsible for corruption, troubled freedom of the incanti, money laundering, issue and use of invoices for non-existent operations, in order to favor money of certain companies, in exchange of

The activity is the continuation of the operation "Sorella Sanità" which, in May 2020, had already led to the issue of precautionary measures at the expense of 13 inquiries.

The action against the Mafia consortia during the period under review continued also through the seizures and prevention confiscations Antimafia. The 26 luglio 2022, the DIA has performed a

Already the 8 giugno 2022, the Polizia di Stato of Palermo has given execution to a ruling application of personal precautionary measures charged with 3 subjects accused of mafia-related electoral exchange during the municipal elections of Palermo.

In addition, during the election consultation for the same elections, the 10 giugno 2022, the Polizia di Stato of Palermo has performed another ruling of application of precautionary measure in prison with additional 2 subjects accused of mafia-related electoral exchange.

OCC n. 12787/2022 RGNR and n. 8226/2022 RGGIP, issued by the court GIP of Palermo the 22 settembre 2022.

Specifically, considered a prominent element of the CARINI family, condemned for 416-bis c.p. with judgment of the Palermo Appeal Court of 15 luglio 2010, irrevocable the 25 gennaio 2012.

OCC n. 6036/2022 RGNR and n. 4500/2022 RGGIP of the 3 ottobre 2022 issued by the GIP of Palermo.

the activity carried out and the results achieved by Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate

SEMESTRAL RELATIONS TO decree of seizure43, to integration of that emerged in the last semester44, to the burden of a building entrepreneur, organic to the family of SAN LORENZO, in charge of keeping the relations between the associates and a latitating boss - informing the latter on all the events of the association - as well as managing the "cass" of the family by collecting, on behalf of the partnership, large sums of money.

A considerable synergy has also been developed on the front of administrative prevention that allowed the Prefect of Palermo to issue 25 interdictive Antimafia measures against companies on account of which symptomatic elements of mafia conditioning have been detected.

Finally, it is clear that, during the reference period, the "commissariamenti" of the Municipal councils of San Giuseppe Jato45, Bolognetta46, while the Municipality of Partinico was elected the new Mayor in the election round of the 13 novembre 2022.

With regard to foreign crime, the margins of rooting of the Nigerian mafia, in relation to the relations with Cosa Nostra in the context examined, are essentially exigent.

In the semester there were no investigative evidence of the operation of such a foreign organization and this would seem to be placed in line with what has recently been established by the Assize Court of Appeal of Palermo in the sentence47 issued at the end of the ordinary proceedings of the operation "Black axe".

The judges, in decreting the acquittal for the crime referred to in the art. 416 bis c.p. contested at 4 of the 5 defendants, highlighted how the members of the Mafia family of BALLARÒ employed the Nigerians as "picciotti" at their service for the only activities of spake per minute of the drug.

Decree n.12/2021 RMP of the 22 luglio 2022 which has dealt with a bank account addressed to the entrepreneur.

Decree n. 12/21 RMP of 10 maggio 2022 - Palermo Court. The seizure, carried out in Carini the 27 maggio 2022 (PA), has covered numerous properties, 2 construction companies, different financial availability and vehicles, for a total value of 500 thousand euros, registered or attributable to the entrepreneur.

With DPR of 9 luglio 2021 for a period of 18 months. The order came from the access provided by the Prefettura of Palermo the 30 settembre 2020 which had documented forms of ingestion by local organised crime.

With DPR of 19 novembre 2021 for a period of 18 months. The order originated from the result of the access provided by the Prefettura of Palermo following the operation "Dominio", concluded by the Carabinieri in 2021 with the arrest of 2 entrepreneurs affiliated to the Mafia family of BOLOGNETTA.

Judgment n. 10/2022 R. Sent. n. 24/2020 RGAA and n. 1696/14 RGNR of Procura Palermo 15 marzo 2022.

2nd semester 3. Sicilian organized crime