Kidnapping, intimidation, and fake job offers: two arrests for extortion using the mafia method

Two people have been arrested by the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Catania in execution of a custody order in prison issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Catania at the request of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate.

The recipients of the measure are L. P. and A. C., considered to be seriously suspected of the crime of kidnapping for extortion, aggravated by the mafia method.

The investigations, conducted by the Operational Nucleus of the Company of Gravina di Catania and coordinated by the District Prosecutor's Office, would have highlighted that, during the kidnapping, the suspects would have evoked the presence of armed individuals ready to intervene in case of an escape attempt by the victim.

To reinforce the intimidation, they would also have flaunted connections with local organized crime, forcing the kidnapped person to witness a phone call and a video call with alleged mafia members.

Simultaneously with the arrests, a search warrant was executed, both local and digital, inside a financial consulting agency in Catania and at the premises of a construction company in Misterbianco, believed to be functional to the creation of fictitious job positions and incomes, used to fraudulently obtain bank loans.