Scanzano Jonico. 5 individuals investigated for threats to Mele

In a bugging operation in the context of the anti-mafia operation Centouno, the clear intention emerged to strike at the collaborator of La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno.

“We’ll do the operation against that journalist tonight”: the behind the scenes activity of the organizing of the intimidation of the doctor and journalist Filippo Mele, correspondent from Scanzano Jonico for the Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, was revealed through a bugging contained in the order of the Court Judge of Potenza on the “Centouno” anti-Mafia operation.

According to that instruction on the 4th February 2019, precautionary measures were ordered to be taken against 21 suspects. Among them, five are accused of aggravated threats against Mele for the episode of October 10th 2018 when in front of the gate to his country house, Dr. Mele found an anonymous envelope containing a sheet of A4 paper without any writing, an unexploded bullet and a red-ink ballpoint pen.

The investigators also discovered a hole in the roof of the house and had speculated that it may have been produced in an attempt to set fire to the house. On the 4th February 2019 the Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Francesco Curcio announced that the hole had been made by a paper bomb.

From October 27th 2018, he is protected by law enforcement agencies through continuous vigilance ordered by the Prefecture of Matera.

In the days preceding the intimidation, he had published several news articles on a law-enforcement operation conducted by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Potenza to dismantle three criminal clans, one of them Mafia-type, devoted to extortion and drug trafficking. One of the three clans appeared to be led by a former policeman whose son is also among the suspects for the threats to the journalist

RDM (wt)