ROS security police in Rome in
the night between Tuesday and Wednesday arrested nine people
after the supreme court of Cassation on Tuesday ruled on the
huge 'Mondo di Mezzo' (Middle World) corruption case.
In the case of some of those arrested following the ruling,
the new anti-corruption law 'Spazzacorrotti' (Sweep Away The
Corrupt) was implemented, judicial sources said.
The law introduces "measures targeting crimes against the
public administration and on the transparency of parties and
political movements".
The Constitutional Court is due to rule on an appeal
presented against the 'Spazzacorrotti' law.
Meanwhile Cesare Placanica, the lawyer of former gangster and
ex-member of the right-wing NAR terrorist group Massimo
Carminati, said Wednesday that his client could have already
served his prison term and it was "possible to demand his
release".
The Cassation on Tuesday reversed a lower court's verdict and
ruled that the people convicted in the 'Mondo di Mezzo'
corruption case were not guilty of mafia association.
As a result the sentences of the two ringleaders of the gang,
which got its hands on city contracts worth millions, ranging
from the running of Roma and migrant camps to waste management
and maintaining green areas, will have to be re-calculated.
At the appeals level, Carminati was given a term of 14 years
and six months.
The term of leftwing cooperatives chief Salvatore Buzzi was
18 years, four months.
The case was initially nicknamed 'Capital Mafia' after
prosecutors said it regarded organized crime.
In the first sentence, judges had said there were two
separate criminal organisations in the case and they were not
mafia-like in nature.
But the appeals verdict said mafia association was involved,
before the supreme court reversed that reversal.
The ringleaders were caught on a wiretap saying they could
make more on Roma and migrant camps than from drugs.
Mondo di Mezzo refers to Carminati's nickname for the
demi-monde he operated in.
Some former members of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD)
were also involved in the 'Mondo di Mezzo' case and in February
former centre-right Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno got six years for
illegal financing corruption in a separate case linked to it.
In Italy sentences do not usually become effective until the
appeals process has been exhausted, at the third level of
appeals, the Cassation Court.
photo: Buzzi testifying on Carminati
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