Contini clan: arrests for fraud and corruption in the San Giovanni Bosco hospital in Naples

Through an association providing ambulance services and with the complicity of medical and parasanitary personnel, private security guards and employees of other companies operating in the San Giovanni Bosco hospital, also using threats and violence, favours were allegedly granted to members of the clan and other satellite underworld groups for admissions in violation of access procedures, the issuing of false medical certificates, also in order to obtain discharges, and the illegal transport of corpses by ambulance instead of by authorised funeral services.

The offences charged in the order issued by the gip at the request of the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office are mafia-type conspiracy aggravated by the armed character, bribery, perjury, false declarations to the judicial authorities, ideological falsity in public deeds, fraudulent transfer of valuables, abusive access to computer systems, attempted extortion, extortion, usury, money laundering and self-laundering.

He managed the Contini clan's wealth, including that accumulated through insurance fraud, investing the proceeds in the purchase of real estate, cars and even paintings.

The Naples Public Prosecutor's Office and the gip accuse the lawyer Salvatore D'Antonio, 51 years old, who was arrested today, of external complicity in mafia association.

There are also six public officials among the 76 people investigated in the investigation.

They are: a retired inspector of the State Police; a current official of the Inps in Naples; a former employee of the Heritage Office of the San Giovanni Bosco Hospital, currently retired; a doctor and a doctor currently working at the hospital and another medical officer who was at the time of the events.

With some of them, according to the findings, the arrested lawyer also interfaced for the acquisition of confidential information, 'in a relationship of close and stable interpenetration with the criminal organisation'.

In the order by which the Naples gip Ivana Salvatore ordered the arrest of three alleged members of the Contini clan and a lawyer, reference is also made to threats suffered by Ciro Verdoliva, who at the time was general director of the Asl Napoli 1 Centro.

In fact, the general management was trying to cut off the Contini-affiliated area from the contracts of the San Giovanni Bosco Hospital, those for cleaning, auxiliary services and internal economic activities, and the action taken by Verdoliva coincided with a climate of very heavy pressure against him.

In fact, Verdoliva formalised the reports and began working with the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office to denounce the intimidating climate and continue the clean-up of the Neapolitan hospital.

From the papers of the investigation delegated by the DDA to the Nucleo Pef of the Guardia di Finanza and the Nucleo Investigativo of the Carabinieri of Naples, a real structured system of insurance fraud and infiltration in health contracts emerges that can be traced back to the Contini clan, a historical component of the Alliance of Secondigliano.

The intercepts give a direct and raw insight into the mechanism: in one conversation, talking about an insurance file, one of the suspects clarifies that 'we close it at 10%', referring to the percentage withheld from the settled amount.

In another passage - as emerges from the documents of the investigation - the necessity of 'agreeing first with the liquidator' is discussed, confirming the existence of functional relationships for the success of the files.

The language is technical, almost corporate: there is no talk of whether to commit fraud, but how to allocate the margins. According to the documents, the system also included the activation or purchase of policies that were instrumental in the construction of the claims.

But it is on the procurement front at the Asl Napoli 1 Centro that the investigation takes on even greater political-administrative weight: intercepted conversations show the concern about the overhaul initiatives launched by the company management, particularly at the San Giovanni Bosco hospital.

In short, 'they are on the move' and certain assets risk being blown up. The papers reveal the perception of a consolidated control over strategic services such as cleaning and auxiliary services, with the fear that the reorganisation action could disrupt entrenched economic balances.

The measure also includes pressure against the then general director Ciro Verdoliva (see above), who was committed to reviewing the awarding and management of services.

The intimidation - attributed to persons gravitating in the area of the clan - took place at the very time when the local health authority was intervening in areas considered sensitive.

Not always explicit threats, butsignals and messages evocative of the organisation's strength, aimed at dissuading the clean-up action.

The picture that emerges is that of an entrepreneurial camorra, less visible but capable of infiltrating public services, generating liquidity through serial fraud and defending established economic interests through targeted pressure.

A system that, according to the investigators, welded organised crime, entrepreneurship and the management of strategic public health sectors.