Drugs, maxi blitz in Palermo: 58 arrests. Family-run shop and baby pusher

A criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking and active in the Sperone district of Palermo has been vanquished. It is one of the most impressive trading squares in Southern Italy. The carabinieri of the Compagnia di Palermo San Lorenzo, from the first light of dawn, carried out 58 precautionary measures (37 in prison, 20 under house arrest and an obligation to submit to the judicial police), issued by the investigating judge of the Sicilian capital at the request of the local District Anti-Mafia Directorate. The suspects are accused of association aimed at drug trafficking and drug dealing. The investigations, conducted between February and July 2018 and coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Salvatore De Luca, allowed to shed light on the organization chart and the internal dynamics of the association. The top management of the organization was responsible for the supply of drugs, the drug dealing strategies and the collection of proceeds, to which three distinct criminal groups referred, each of which headed a family that autonomously organized its own marketplace and imparted precise directives to the pushers. The shop was family-run and employing minors. “It has been ascertained how the drug dealers used, without distinction, the inhospitable meanders of the buildings, the narrow streets of the neighborhood, the homes of the promoters and, even, the bedrooms of their minor children, with functions of storage, processing and sale of cocaine, crack, hashish and marijuana “, explain the investigators of the Arma. The drug dealing activity took place near the school in the neighborhood and customers also came from other Sicilian provinces. The sale of cocaine, crack, hashish and marijuana was one of the main sources of livelihood for entire families, whose members, “except for rare cases of guilty connivance, are fully involved in criminal activities”, explain the carabinieri. The two drug supply channels were also identified, managed by three of the suspects with criminal records and gravitating in the orbit of organized crime. dealing squares. Not only did they collaborate in the direction of criminal activities but in case of arrest they were ready to take over from their children, husbands and companions to ensure continuity. The criminal organization had warehouses and entire apartments at its disposal, where the suspects gathered to decide strategies, divide up the proceeds or supply the pusher engaged in the squares. “These sites were used for the storage of marijuana and hashish and as laboratories to ‘cook’ and ‘base’ cocaine for the production of crack – explain the carabinieri -. The association was so strong that part of the profits were redistributed for the sustenance of the families of prisoners and the payment of the related legal expenses “.