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Eleven people arrested (three in prison and eight under house arrest) and six reported in a state of freedom. It is the balance of Operation Mezzanotte that made possible the dismantling of a shopping center in the San Basilio district. An activity organized along three streets, via Morrovalle, via Recanati and via Osimo, areas with many shops. And it was precisely by exploiting the comings and goings of people that the organization had structured its business. From the opening hours, coinciding with that of the shops, from 09:30 to 13:00 approximately and from 15:30 to 20:00.
Outside the shops
The commercial activity was well structured with vigilantes and traffickers, who exploited the comings and goings of people in commercial establishments to camouflage their illicit activity. In fact, during the lunch break, when the stores closed, they interrupted the illegal activity to resume it when the same stores reopened in the afternoon. The traffickers, in order not to arouse suspicion, always positioned themselves in front of the commercial activities talking to other people or posing as customers and, when contacted by the buyers, they moved simulating a greeting with the latter with a handshake and handing them over. the drug or, by prior arrangement, the buyers were sent by a second nearby drug dealer.
Where the drugs were hidden
To avoid the seizure of merchandise by the police, the traffickers never towed a substantial amount of doses, but instead, according to precise indications from the managers of the square, they were hidden every day at different points, using various tricks including small metal boxes with magnets that were hidden under the bumpers of the car, used tissues hidden in the back of the kiosk, crumpled pieces of paper placed under cars chosen “ad hoc” from those who knew the owners, or disused cars, near the garbage containers, a mailbox located in via Morrovalle, several openings in the walls, as well as in the access door of an apartment building on the same street that always remained open for the drug trafficker on duty he could use it both to disguise the substance and to make exchanges inside, away from prying eyes.
The “Mezzanotte” brothers
From the monitoring of the cameras present in the place, the investigators of District 4, have verified that the commercial plaza located in via Morrovalle, presumably was administered by two brothers FM and FT (alias brothers “Mezzanotte”) who alternated morning and afternoon to review the business of trading, position the substance, withdraw the money, pay the daily pusher and sometimes negotiate directly in the first person.
In addition, as in a true “commercial center”, even the drug traffickers and lookouts had well defined shifts divided into mornings and afternoons.
Providers
At the scene, in addition to the “shift workers,” the two drug traffickers were always present, one of whom died in the meantime, both with police records. From the investigations of the investigators, it was found that they were the group’s drug suppliers, exploiting the commercial area to make contact with others who had suffered from the sale of the drug. In fact, during the investigations, the agents were able to observe some episodes in which some criminals communicated with the two.
All the people involved in various capacities in the drug trafficking activity were identified by the San Basilio investigators, thanks to the territory controls and their investigative knowledge.
