After the struggle against the mafias, the city was left without a prefect, smack dab in the thick of an underground conflict that is bloodying the Italian capital's outskirts. Once some bigwigs are killed or imprisoned, there are some that strive to gain more criminal status.
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| Pantheon monument in Rome, Italy |
Murders, kidnappings, and stalking are all crimes. Something has been stirring in Rome's criminal undergrowth since November 2022. With the excellent arrests and killings of key figures such as Fabrizio Piscitelli, alias Diabolik, Marco Esposito, alias Poodle, and Selavdi Shehaj, alias Passerotto, a criminal repositioning is ongoing.
The pax mafiosa fell, and the power vacuum may have allowed some new organizations to emerge. Second levers who have opted to raise their heads despite the fact that the unwritten rule in the underworld is that crimes and bloodshed are bad for business.
Murders in Rome
People have returned to street murdering in the last 52 years. From the murder of Fabrizio Vallo, a 47-year-old man previously known to police for his drug-dealing rounds in Ostia, to the crime of Andrea Fiore, a 54-year-old buddy of Luigi Finizio, who was also shot dead a few days before by two assassins whose faces were disguised by an integrated case. There were smoking guns and bodies on the ground. A blood trail that conceals unsolved tensions and shattered hierarchies.
The investigators are hard at work, and the capital, which is now without a prefect following the departure of Bruno Frattasi, who has moved to national cybersecurity, is demanding answers. In recent days, Rome's mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, acknowledged the problem while emphasizing that Rome is one of the safest cities in the world: "a truth" recognized by tourists and backed up by figures that "speak for themselves," Gualtieri adds.
We are not talking about a security emergency for people and tourists but we are talking about the presence in Rome of drug dealing squares, organized crime, which brings with it episodes which we will then see if they are punished rudeness, or committed to take over some squares
According to Istat, there were 815 cases of extortion in 2021 (compared to 688 in 2018), 62 kidnappings (compared to 77 in 2018), and 2216 robberies in 2021. (3 122 in 2018).
Rome: The Drug Supermarket
A premise is required to comprehend what is going on in Rome these days: Rome is a drugstore that is open 24 hours a day. The position is important; there are two airports, and the drug arrives by sea at the ports of Fiumicino, Civitavecchia, Anzio, and Nettuno. In summary, the city's "high" arrives and gravitates.
According to the most recent Mafie study in Lazio, there are at least twenty areas in the city that are classified drug forts. Lands "controlled" by families or organizations that make drug selling their primary source of income. These are places built on a rigorous division of labor, the increasingly common employment of juveniles, and extensive alternative welfare that promises pay and legal aid to its "workers" in the case of arrest. As a result of the anti-State, people who have none can find job.
Everyone wants to live in Rome, but "Roma non vo'masters," as Romanzo Criminale puts it. So much so that everyone can conduct business in the city: criminal plans touch historical clans, and peace is for everyone.
Who rules the underworld of Rome?
Notwithstanding the arrests that have afflicted the families of Bellocco, Marando, Filippone, Molè, and Piromalli, the 'Ndrangheta has steadily extended its grip on the city in recent years. Hence, notable Albanian criminal characters such as Elvis Demce and Ermal Arapaj. Despite the arrests of bigwigs such as Michele Senese known as 'O Pazzo', a point of reference for the "Roman Camorra", 'Mim or Professor' and the so-called Neapolitans of Tuscolana or the Moccia family, the Camorra in Rome has showed all its ability to create and reinvent itself in recent years.
Then there's the Sicilian mafia, which has long operated in Rome. From narcotics to gambling to money laundering, there is something for everyone. Cosa Nostra Romana works and reinvests. Giuseppe Guttadauro, Matteo Messina Denaro's brother-in-law, is one of the most recent notable characters. Guttadauro, often known as "the doctor," was and continues to be a key figure in the Palermitan Cosa Nostra. A major player. And let us not forget the Casamonicas and the Spadas, who are attempting to raise their heads in Ostia following the release - awaiting the Cassation - of Roberto Spada following the headbutting of journalist Daniele Piervincenzi and his cameraman.
Kidnapping murders: What's happening now in Rome nowadays?
The unifying thread is drugs, but what happens in one community does not always have ramifications in another. Rewinding the film, though, reveals how the do-it-yourself retribution has gotten increasingly active in recent months. In fact, groups of aggressive drug traffickers have ceased employing former boxers to express their dominance in even bloodier ways.
Francesco Vitale, Danilo Valeri, Gualtiero Giombini, Cristiano Isopo, Autilia Romano, and Autilia Bevilacqua were abducted between December 2022 and February of this year. Vitale, also known as Ciccio Barbuto (read about him here), and Giombini are both deceased.
The carabinieri detained two individuals for the murder of Vitale, a professional from Bari: Sergio Placidi, a 48-year-old disco bouncer known as Sergione, and Daniele Fabrizi, a 37-year-old known as Saccottino. The two are charged with kidnapping for the purpose of extortion, with the victim's death serving as an aggravating factor. But, the investigations are not finished. It's possible that the pair didn't act alone. So, on whose behalf and with whom are you acting?
Giombini's death, on the other hand, talks of a large-scale cocaine heist, kidnapping, the arrest of a carabinieri, and the abrupt kidnapping of Cristiano Isopo, who reportedly stole the drug with two "gypsies," Autilia Romano and Autilia Bevilacqua. Elias Mancinelli, who was already in trouble in 2018 as part of a narcotics investigation that had defeated a rival organization to the Spada clan, abducted the three of them. A tale from Suburra, with an ongoing inquiry.
Those abducted for debts, smuggling, or drug thefts, men and women who fell into the clutches of others who had something to anticipate from them. Ambushes, savage beatings, and threats are all common. Spilled blood that has recently resulted in killings.
The murder in Ostia
In Ostia, to donate an case, the circumstance is once once more glowing. After the captures that executed the Spada clan and some time recently that the Fasciani , at that point the gather of the " Neapolitans " and the passing of Poodle, we have entered a stage in which it isn't however clear who commands the ocean of Rome. Final October Roberto Spada, as said, returned briefly free. Is his gather still the strongest?
A small less than a month after his discharge from jail, agreeing to the later chronology, shooting has returned to the ocean in Rome. The top, be that as it may, was final February. Fatality, right within the range of Ostia Nuova, a fight of the Spadas. Here Fabrizio Vallo was killed within the road. A genuine execution. A number of days afterward, in Fiumicino, the carabinieri whereas examining that case captured a man who had custom made bombs in his car. The culprit of the kill and the thought process for Vallo's death, in any case, are still not clear at the minute.
Kidnappings, killings, and even ambushes have occurred. Two young Romans, ages 27 and 21, were shot in the legs on February 12 in Morena, in Rome's eastern suburbs. The first victim was wounded by two bullets and sustained wounds that may be cured in 20 days. Only one shot for the second, but a 30-day prognosis.
Ten days later, in Tufello, in the capital's northern sector, Marco Canali, a well-known figure among drug traffickers, was also the victim of an ambush. A ferocious gambizzazione for the manner it is devoured. Not on the street, as in criminal activity, but rather at home.
The murders of Luigi Finizio and Andrea Fiore
We arrive on March 12th evening. The killing of Luigi Finizio may have set off a terrible chain reaction. He was assassinated while refueling at a gas station in Quadraro, east of Rome. Finizio had an essential interaction with police enforcement because of his drug history. Among those who thought, with one of Rome's "kings" of narcos.
Finizio was a cousin of Girolamo Finizio, the friend of Angelo Senese's wife's sister, a boss who is the brother of Michele, known as O' Pazzo. As a result, there was an ambush that killed a man and might have signaled the Sienese troop. It's probable that whomever killed him intended to rise through the Roman crime ranks. Needless to say, the ambush had the typical characteristics of criminal modalities: two guys on a moped, both with their faces hidden by helmets and armed with a hidden weapon.
Two weeks later, another killing occurred, this time of Andrea Fiore, a friend of Finizio's. The detectives believe Fiore, a coachbuilder by trade, knew too much about his friend's death.
In March, two other men were shot and killed in two days: Mihai Roman, who died on March 8, and Manuel Costa, who died two days later. Their individual families do not want to hear about drugs in either scenario. Clearly, the simplicity with which illicit firearms may be found in the city is indicated in both cases: 200 euros is sometimes enough to have a pistol in hand.
Was it a declaration of war between gangs rather than a mere warning? One thing is certain: shootings and killings have returned to Rome.
The author: Lorenzo Nicolini, Source: TODAY.IT
