Cpr - Repatriation detention centers

Islands. Spaces of education and civil disobedience

Cpr - Repatriation detention centers

Islands. Spaces of education and civil disobedience

An 'ndrangheta boss against the reception of migrants: "Then we find the police in front of the house"

G iuseppe Pasqua, considered the head of the local 'ndrangheta in Brandizzo (Turin), had threatened two entrepreneurs who wanted to rent properties to be used as a reception facility for migrants and had also spoken to the then mayor: "Leave us alone". He explained to his nephew the councilor: "They're quick to put up a police station there."

Andrea Giambartolomei Editor of lavialibera

The 'Ndrangheta against foreigners: they would have attracted the cops. For this reason Giuseppe Pasqua, alleged boss of the club (a territorial structure of the 'ndrangheta, ed.) in Brandizzo (Turin), did not want a property to be used as a reception facility for migrants. For this reason he put pressure on the owners of the building and on the then mayor, also through his nephew, councilor for commerce. It is an episode that emerges from the precautionary custody order of the Echidna operation, the investigation conducted by the Special Operational Group of the Carabinieri coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Valerio Longi, of the Turin Anti-Mafia District Directorate. On Thursday 3 April the investigation led to the arrests of nine people, among which the name of Giuseppe Pasqua and that of Roberto Fantini, an important Turin entrepreneur, stand out. Above all, the actions of Salvatore Gallo, a PD politician, to influence jobs, appointments and elections emerged from the documents.

The ndrangheta boss: "Without Fantini I don't live"

The threats of the 'Ndrangheta to entrepreneurs

In the over 1,400 pages of the precautionary custody order, we also read about one of the many episodes of abuse that demonstrate the presence and activities of the 'ndrangheta local in Brandizzo, a structure that asserts the strength of the "mafia method" in the area. The incident occurred in March 2017.

On board his car, the alleged boss Giuseppe Pasqua (already involved and convicted in investigations into organized crime) chats with a certain Gianni and discusses the fact that two real estate developers from Settimo Torinese had expressed their willingness to rent one of their properties to be used as accommodation for migrants. The boss didn't like it: "Gianni, as long as I'm here, no one will come." And he also went to tell the two entrepreneurs, according to what he himself reported to the passenger: "I went to Settimo, who have a real estate business, they have an office like this, I told them ... if you want to arrange to send these non-EU citizens to us, send them too, it means that some Calabrian, some southerner like you, like me, because he's from Puglia, takes it into his head to set fire to you, you lose 'pig and account' because these people arrive here, not 50 or 60, double”.

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In short, according to his own words, the boss even threatened violent retaliation. It wasn't the first time: the Echidna investigation recorded several alleged episodes of threats against competing entrepreneurs, or creditors asking to be paid.

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The pressures on the local administration

He also explained to his interlocutor that he had spoken about this topic with the then mayor of Brandizzo, Roberto Buscaglia, and with his nephew Roberto Pasqua, indicated in the ordinance as councilor for Commerce in the town, but in reality councilor of the majority with delegations to Commerce. “I also spoke to the mayor here, Roberto, and I told him 'Roberto, I don't know how I should tell you... leave us alone!'”, summarizes Giuseppe Pasqua. The two local administrators, both elected on the "Brandizzo Decimum" civic list, are not under investigation. "I have absolutely no memory of this reception project and I don't know what the buildings were, in fact I'm pretty sure that there was no project and that I never talked about it with anyone", declares the former mayor Buscaglia, contacted by lavialibera.

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In another wiretap, dated 13 March 2017, Giuseppe Pasqua explains his thoughts to his nephew, the councillor. He tells him that he told the real estate developers not to give the municipal administration their vacant properties to host migrants. “I told him: 'But do you realize that by putting 60 non-EU citizens in Brandizzo, if there is someone stealing chickens... assaults... some murders will emerge'”. Problems of public order would have arisen, and he doesn't want them because "Brandizzo is quiet" and it must remain that way for a very clear reason: "They're quick to put a police station there! And when they're there in the morning you get up, me, everyone... you always find them in front of the houses."

The carabinieri found them in his house at dawn on 4 April 2024, having arrived at him on the orders of the judge for preliminary investigations Luca Fidelio of the Court of Turin.