Investigation into Giuseppe Del Deo and the 'Fiore Squad': dossier-keeping and embezzlement in the Italian secret services

the in-depth investigations," explains the Ros, "have allowed the acquisition of new elements capable of outlining further criminal offences for which entrepreneurs and former members of the National Intelligence Agency are involved. In detail, the persons concerned are under investigation for various offences of embezzlement in complicity" - entrepreneurs and Del Deo are implicated - "since, in 2023, they appropriated Aisi funds amounting to several million euro, intended to pay for a supply contract, which was never actually executed, stipulated between the aforementioned Agency and a company operating in the production of software and hardware systems".

The charge of aggravated fraud is alleged because "as part of a transaction for the acquisition of companies operating in the consulting and design of digital infrastructure networks and intelligence solutions for innovation - an entrepreneur - in order to increase the sale price through an 'earn-out' clause (which links an additional component of the sale price to the achievement of specific financial or commercial objectives), through artifice and deception, in the income statement for 2023, would have shown fictitious turnover values such as to increase, falsely and by more than EUR 40 million, the gross operating margin (Ebitda) of the company, used as a parameter for the accrual of the additional price component'.

This transaction 'would have procured the entrepreneur a profit of about 8 million euro not due, with correlative damage also to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, of which the Ministry of Economy and Finance is the majority shareholder, since, through Cdp Equity Spa, it held part of the capital of the acquiring company'.

A parallel dossier structure active since November 2024. "The members (some of whom were former members of the police force and Aisi) are under investigation for the crimes of criminal association aimed at unlawful interference in private life," the Ros explains in a note, "abusive access to computer or telematic systems, as well as unlawful interception, obstruction or interruption of computer or telematic communications. In particular, 'they would have acquired and traded in exchange for monthly remuneration or for individual contracts - also on commission from entrepreneurs, professionals and financial intermediaries - confidential information illegally' and 'extrapolated from national databases protected by security systems, creating dossiers with the profiling of natural and legal persons'. They would also have carried out, for a fee paid for each individual intervention, activities of fraudulent interception of telephone and telematic interceptions and installation of devices for the fraudulent capture of private conversations'.

Del Deo's 'black cabal', the investigators investigating the Fiore Squad also became aware of it thanks to telephone interceptions. In particular, according to what emerges from the search decree, in a conversation snatched in January 2025, reference is made to a 'money shortfall of about 7-8 million, which would have occurred at the time when Giuseppe Del Deo was head of the economic and financial department of Aisi and whose disappearance would be attributable to him'.

It also emerged that an intercepted witness allegedly saw 'Carmine (presumably Gallo involved in the Milan-Equalize investigation),' the affidavit reads, 'going to see Del Deo'. During the course of summary information, a witness 'an employee of the Presidency of the Council assigned to a security department' stated how 'it was notorious, in the services' environment, that Del Deo had a great deal of money and ample power to dispose of public resources, and that he had heard Agency employees talking about millions of euro being wasted from Agency funds'. The witness added that he 'thought, like others, that Del Deo took the money abroad'. According to the witnesses' account, it emerged that the suspect 'had de facto negotiating power with suppliers, so much so as to determine the amount of invoices and to claim as a personal choice the issuing of tax documents with a generic description of the type of service performed'. Moreover, 'strong intertwining of economic interests' between Del Deo and two other entrepreneurs investigated as early as 2021 emerged, which 'delineate a parallelism between the entrepreneurial career of the two and the development of the public official's professional career'.

The investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office into the 'Fiore Squad' has led to the acquisition of 'elements on alleged projects aimed at gathering in the hands of a single holding the entire galaxy of companies active in the field of telephone tapping'. This is what emerges from a note issued by the Ros. The checks have also ascertained 'the revelations of the existence of specific acts of investigation within the scope of the investigations ordered in the current proceedings'.

Among the eleven suspects searched by the Ros as part of the Rome Public Prosecutor's investigation into the Fiore team is Giuliano Tavaroli, the former head of Pirelli-Telecom security involved in the past in the Telecom-Sismi scandal. Tavaroli, in conspiracy with other suspects, is accused of 'having associated with each other and with persons to be identified, in order to commit a number of offences of abusive access to computer systems of interest to public order and security, fraudulent collection of computer and telematic communications and interruption of communications relating to computer or telematic systems'.

Also contested, as reported in the search order, is the use of official secrets by public officials and bribery for acts contrary to official duties. In particular, Tavaroli and three other suspects are charged with having set up and managed 'a criminal group, with a logistical base in Rome, which acquired and marketed confidential information unlawfully exfiltrated from national databases protected by security systems, using IT and operational tools similar to those used by law enforcement agencies (electronic devices for the capture of private conversations and for the detection and inhibition of the capture, access points to databases protected by security systems). In particular, they used protected communication devices, referred to as 'intercoms', utilities with fictitious holders, made use of foreign consultants and principals, 'the American' and cover names such as 'naufrago, mezzochilo, corazziere, legno, legnetto, naufrago, juventino'. Moreover, according to the indictment, 'on commission from entrepreneurs, professionals and financial intermediaries, they prepared, in exchange for monthly remuneration or for individual contracts, personal dossiers with the profiling of natural and legal persons carried out with confidential data acquired from protected banks, and they offered and performed services of environmental 'remediation' and fraudulent interception of private conversations'.

Among the suspects in the investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office on the 'Fiore Squad' is the name of entrepreneur Carmine Saladino, who is charged with the offences of embezzlement for his role as chairman of the board of directors of Sind and fraud for his role as chairman of the board of directors of Maticmind. In particular, with regard to fraud, the prosecutors write that the suspect 'as part of the acquisition operation initiated by Mozart HoldCo (whose share capital was held 14.947% by Cdp Equity S.p.A of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) including an 'earn out' clause, which provided for the determination of a portion of the consideration for the sale of the shares by Saladino in direct proportion to the EBITDA values achieved by the same in subsequent years, with artifice and deception consisting in presenting, in the income statement for 2023, fictitious values of turnover such as to falsely increase the EBITDA of the company for over EUR 40 million, misleading Cassa Depositi on the criteria for determining the price of the sale". In this way, 'he procured the unjust profit of the payment of about 8 million euro not due to the public body'.