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How did mafia bosses from all over Italy gather in one of the biggest family weddings? The anti-mafia was eavesdropping...
2023-11-04 21:45:00 / BOTA
Mafia bosses gathered from all over southern Italy for one of the country's biggest mafia weddings. As the Neapolitan, Calabrian and Sicilian guests ate steak and drank beer at the lavish 12-hour reception, little did they know that detectives had tapped the groom, Sicilian Gioacchino Amico.
His 2021 wedding at Villa Di Lorenzo near Palermo could have been a reunion of three of Italy's biggest mafia bosses, and police realized they had uncovered the beginnings of a criminal gang alliance. Amico, 37, was tapped by detectives investigating the deal, which focused on increasing control of organized crime in Milan, northern Italy.
The groom reportedly boasted that 200 people would attend his wedding. But an investigator told The Times that mafia weddings are not for friendship, but to strengthen important relationships. Amico has been accused of being a key player in the criminal alliance, although his daughter-in-law, Federica Buccafusca, is not suspected of being a mafia figure, according to police.
Last month Amico was arrested as part of Operation Hydra, an investigation by the Carabinieri, Italy's paramilitary police force, into suspected mafia plans to spend drug money on public contracts and construction in Milan.
The investigator said: 'Amico was allegedly a liaison between Cosa Nostra and other mobsters in Milan, so he was really happy about his marriage, which legitimized his central role.
Guests at the wedding included Antonio 'The Lawyer' Messina, who is now in prison thanks to his links to Matteo Messina Denaro, the 'last godfather' of Cosa Nostra, who spent 30 years on the run for murdering 50 people, including a boy dissolved in acid. He once boasted that he could fill a graveyard with the people he had killed. Other guests included Giuseppe 'Ninni' Fidanzati, who represented the business interests of the Sicilian-based Cosa Nostra in Milan, along with Massimo Rosi, who is suspected of having ties to the 'NDrangheta' mafia.
It is also thought to make money from illegal waste trafficking, extortion and loan sharking, usually by offering loans to struggling businesses and then gradually taking control of them. Also present at the wedding was Emanuele 'Dollarino' Gregorini, who investigators say has ties to the Neapolitan Senese clan.
Doubts were raised whether the various mafia families were forming a super alliance after a judge ruled last month that the number of arrests planned under the sweeping Operation Hydra should be reduced from 154 to just 11.
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