Game Over: defence challenges alleged mafia pact involving Rocco Moretti
In Italy’s Game Over trial of nineteen defendants, lawyers dispute an alleged agreement between the Moretti and Sinesi-Francavilla groups to control cocaine sales in Foggia. They say key dates do not fit. Prosecutors sought thirty years each for Rocco Moretti senior, his grandson and Antonio Salvatore; judgment is still pending.
The Foggia court is approaching the end of an important trial concerning the Società foggiana, the local mafia. Anti-mafia prosecutors from Bari allege that rival groups set aside their conflict to control cocaine sales together. Nineteen people are on trial in this branch of Game Over.
At issue is an alleged pact between Rocco Moretti senior and Alessandro Aprile, nicknamed Schiattamurt, of the Sinesi-Francavilla group. Prosecutors say dealers had to buy from the clans. They describe around ten kilograms of cocaine monthly and a shared fund supporting members and prisoners’ families.
On 28 October, l’Immediato reported the defence objections. Lawyers say Aprile was in prison at the time of a supposed January 2017 meeting. Under an alternative January 2018 date, Moretti was imprisoned instead. They also contest how long any shared drug monopoly lasted.
Prosecutors requested thirty years each for Moretti senior, Moretti junior and Antonio Salvatore. The proceedings are at the closing-argument stage.
