“Hydra”: new blow for De Lorenzis, king of slot machines: prevention of confiscation

RACALE – Operation “Hydra”, new writing. The long and complex history – a long-running legal battle with kidnappings and seizure releases and revolving around the lucrative gambling industry – can be summed up in two key steps, both weighing the same in the balance. The first: the social danger highlighted by the Lecce District Anti-Mafia Directorate of the three main actors, the “kings of slot machines”, the brothers Pietro Antonio, Saverio and Pasquale Gennaro De Lorenzis, 55, 45 and 48 years old respectively, by Racale. The second, the creation of a new company, Oxo Games, to continue dominating the sector through nominees, after M.Slot’s anti-mafia ban.

Following the revocation of the January seals ordered in January by the Oxo Games Court of Appeal of Lecce, with exemption from seizure of assets and quotas, the II Criminal Section of the Lecce Court (President Fabrizio Malagnino, Judge Annalisa De Benedictis, Judge Speaker Bianca Maria Todaro) accepted, at least in substantial part, the complaints made, derived from the investigations of the Gico of the financial police.

Thus, the preventive confiscation was ordered, in accordance with the anti-mafia code, of all the shares of the company and of the entire Oxo Games business complex, consisting, among other things, of more than 1,500 slot machines between the center and the south of Italy, three checking accounts and twenty-two vehicles, plus cash found by the financiers for about 384 thousand euros. Total value, about 3 and a half million euros.

The social danger

It was said of social dangerousness. It emerges, for the judges, in all three cases, although in force only for Pietro Antonio De Lorenzis (so much so that special surveillance has been proposed and the obligation to remain in the municipality of residence for two years). Instead, in 2012, the traces and references that lead to the other two brothers, Pasquale Gennaro and Saverio, end. The particular aspect is that, at least with reference to the past, a contiguity with prominent elements of the Sacred Crown (that of Gallipoli in primis, ruled by the Paduan clan, but not only) was found that would seem certified by numerous investigations and statements of witnesses and collaborators of justice.

According to the researchers, in short, the De Lorenzis brothers would have woven in previous years a series of relationships with the dominant clans in the different areas of the province, to expand their dominance in the gaming sector. With the delivery of money and the obtaining of favors. Cross-cutting agreements, one could say, to maintain the peace and cultivate their interests without stepping on their feet.

Who is behind Oxo Games?

The Oxo Games situation should be viewed differently. For the judges, in consideration of the evidence gathered, there is no doubt that the company dates back to Pasquale Gennaro and Saverio Lorenzis. While, “No serious clues emerged in the substantial research material acquired regarding his involvement in the life of the company.” as for the eldest of the brothers, Pietro Antonio De Lorenzis, considered, therefore, completely foreign.

For the financiers, and as the judges acknowledge, therefore, to “protect” the business income, a new company (Oxo Games, in fact) would have been specially created only formally in the name of the employees of the other company, already affected by the anti-mafia injunction of the Prefecture of Lecce, the M.Slot. In short, figureheads would have been used, maximizing profits, according to the “yellow flames”, also thanks to the use of fraudulent manipulations and subsequent distribution of electronic devices capable of defrauding players and tax authorities for hundreds of thousands of euros in tax revenue (the called Preu, single rate and income tax).

Income from former administrations

The Lecce judges, in the provision, specified how the evidence collected by the investigators was sufficient to demonstrate the reuse in the Salento company, now seized, of the illicit product obtained from previous efforts, which also ended up being targeted in the past. It was suspected, in fact, of being the result of an agreement between businessmen and members of the SCU, to guarantee protection and commercial “penetration” in all territories managed by the clans. All this, in exchange for the distribution of profits, hiring and “gifts” to exponents of the mafia, such as a precious ring on the occasion of the wedding of a woman belonging to one of the prominent families of the Gallipoli Scu, but also cars and medical assistance to the other members. , or money upon release, plus payment of attorneys’ fees.

Among the various disputes raised, also donations to “Lost fund” to finance commercial initiatives of mafia families in Salento, including the purchase of accommodation facilities in the Gallipoli area, where the SCU reportedly decided to launder the proceeds of their criminal activities.

Avoid new investigations

The constitution of the new company would have occurred through a cumbersome sale of shares, studied at the table, between the true owners and their front man, at such a price “Advantageous” be be “Clearly incongruous”, with payment in endless installments, without initial liquidity, according to modalities “Off the market”. For financiers, the only possible purpose is to disguise an instrumental sale to hide the assets before any investigation (arrived on time).

The Lecce Court, considering the disproportion between the income of the owner of the company (in reality, a figurehead), and its value, and taking into account that, in reality, this was nothing more than a “clean” company created precisely to allow Continuation of the activities of the group affected by interdiction and anti-mafia prevention measures, for which he ordered the forfeiture of quotas and assets.