The Senese Clan was the real 'master' of Caroccia's restaurants

The Senese clan was, in fact, the real ruler of the Da Baffo restaurants. This was put in black and white by the judges in the 67-page grounds of the conviction sentence with which the appeals of the defendants in the 'Family Affairs' trial were rejected. At the centre of the proceedings is Mauro Caroccia, who, according to the judges, cannot be reduced to the role of simple money launderer of mafia money. According to the Supreme Court, the real 'boss' - this is the term chosen by the judges of legitimacy to describe relations with the Senese clan - was actually Angelo Senese, brother of boss Michele 'O Pazz. The Senese presence was stable over time, favoured by his brother Daniele, who was already romantically linked to the boss's daughter.

A circumstance that - the judges write - was also known externally, so much so that the traceability of the activities to the two Senese family members was evident to several subjects. The acquisition of control would start from the first restaurant: 'The restaurant in the substantial availability of Angelo Senese and his son Vincenzo, hired with a salary (200 euros per day) disproportionate for an ordinary waiter (70 euros, when the tasks are also management), to whom the conversations picked up ascribe the availability of the restaurant'. The 'Da Baffo' restaurants were the same ones frequented by the former undersecretary Andrea Delmastro, who is said to have met Caroccia there and where he was then persuaded to set up the company for the management of the 'Bisteccheria d'Italia'. Caroccia, who as a result of this final sentence is serving a four-year sentence, is now being investigated with his 19-year-old daughter Miriam in the new investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office for money laundering and fictitious registration of assets in relation to the company Le 5 Forchette in which former undersecretary Andrea Delmastro held shareholdings, which were then sold.

Also in the judges' sights was the opening of the new fish restaurant 'Baffo 2 Fish', the company of which was set up on 2 March 2017 by Caroccia and Vincenzo Senese of 1990, on Mauro Caroccia's declared intention to get the Senese family out of the management of the 'Da Baffo' restaurant. While Caroccia and Angelo Senese, who had no formal role, thus agreed on the fictitious heading of the shares, Angelo Senese discussed with the accountant the means of accessing financing and Angelo and Vincenzo Senese of 90 identified a second partner who only formally replaced Caroccia - reads the sentence - not solvent for funding, emerging the investment of 80 thousand euros by Angelo Senese in the initiative, which towards Caroccia behaves as a true master".

The interceptions "give an account of the investments made by Angelo Senese in the restaurant business, in which Mauro Caroccia himself had referred to the Senese family's long-standing presence, whose resources were necessary to allow the business to continue. Angelo Senese's interest in its management (the purchase of a 'package' for advertising) and its actual ownership (direct or through his son, who was hired off the books in the restaurant with a salary outside the usual canons) is also demonstrated, his repeated references to the return of the sums invested by him in the restaurant, whose ownership by the two Senese is also shown to be known to third parties".

As for the mafia aggravating circumstance of the Senese group, as territorial articulation of the Camorra, the judges of legitimacy considered that the proof of the constituent elements that characterise a mafia-type association had been reached 'including prevarication, the role of conflict regulator, the offer of protection, the intimidating force, the omertà (code of silence), and the criminal reputation'. Individual aspects to which the contested sentence devotes careful examination.