The mafia in the Region's contracts: what is in the investigation that has overwhelmed the super bureaucrat Iacolino

Carmelo Vetro is a mafioso from Favara, Freemason, and son of a mafia boss. When regional leaders Salvatore Iacolino and Gianfranco Teresi open the doors of the Region to him - introducing or favoring him with deputies, health directors, and civil protection leaders - he has just finished serving a sentence of 9 years in prison. He resumes the thread of what he had left behind: contracts, tenders, corruption. At the highest levels. Up to the top of the two richest departments in the Region: Health, where Renato Schifani wanted and defended the "external" Iacolino at the head of the strategic planning department, and Infrastructures, where Teresi directed the Maritime and Port Infrastructure Service despite an ongoing corruption trial, stemming from an investigation in 2020.

For the prosecutors, the link between Vetro and Iacolino, both from Favara, is "characterized by a total willingness" of the powerful health manager "to comply with the requests" of the mafioso, who needs help for "the economic needs and business prospects of Ansa Ambiente", a company linked to him that deals with waste transport and disposal. Iacolino knows who Vetro is and knows that Ansa Ambiente is essentially his, the investigators note. For this reason, the manager is accused of the crimes of external competition in mafia association and aggravated corruption. After all, it is difficult to be from Favara and not know the Vetro family: Giuseppe, the father, is a "top mafioso from the Agrigento province" and Carmelo, "available to Cosa Nostra from a young age", "has leveraged established, varied, and alarming relationships stemming from his long-standing and current membership in Freemasonry, a true glue among the most diverse components of society.

In particular, he is part of the "Grand Lodge of Italy of Ancient Free Accepted Masons", which in the past had already intertwined its name with that of Cosa Nostra in Sicily. Despite his background, "numerous meetings" between Vetro and Iacolino are documented, even in institutional settings. The manager and politician (former European Parliament member of Forza Italia) primarily would have helped the mafioso "for the economic needs and business prospects of Ansa Ambiente", allowing him to "strengthen interpersonal relationships with key figures in the regional administration, in the public works and health sectors.

For example, in an attempt to favor a company in Messina with which Vetro does business, Iacolino introduces the Agrigento mafioso to the top of the Asp of the Strait. In return, the bureaucrat would have obtained hiring of people he recommended and funding in previous electoral campaigns. So much so that he managed, always through the manager, to communicate with Bernardette Grasso, regional deputy of Forza Italia and vice president of the Anti-Mafia commission who would have signaled names to be hired to the mafioso, and with the head of the regional civil protection Salvo Cocina.

The other major protagonist of the investigation is Gianfranco Teresi, arrested on charges of aggravated corruption for having favored Cosa Nostra. A regional manager with a long curriculum, he is of retirement age but has recently been extended and assigned interim to the Urban and Housing Policies Service in January. All despite an ongoing corruption trial: in 2020, when he was head of the Civil Engineering of Trapani, he allegedly favored an entrepreneur in the contract for the dredging works of the port of Mazara del Vallo. But Teresi, in the role he held for years as head of the Maritime Infrastructure Service, continued to deal with million-dollar tenders and ports, also as Rup and security coordinator. And, according to the Palermo Prosecutor's Office, the script of corruption would have repeated itself exactly. With the aggravating circumstance that this time among the favored entrepreneurs in exchange for bribes there would be two mafiosos: as usual, Vetro is joined by Giovanni Filardo, cousin of Matteo Messina Denaro and convicted for the crime of 416bis. The incidents reconstructed by the investigation concern works in the ports of Marina di Selinunte, Donnalucata, and Terrasini. Contracts awarded directly by Teresi or in which the manager intervenes to impose subcontracts on the winning companies and accelerate payments to his protégés, pocketing in return 60,000 euros in bribes. A meticulous and painstaking job, for which it is worth working even on Christmas Eve.

These sums have now been seized by order of the judge. Unlike Iacolino - for whom everything is dependent on Friday's interrogation - for the Infrastructures manager, the judge acted "in derogation". The arrest and seizure were ordered before calling him to court, for "the recklessness and criminal abilities demonstrated", for which "there is a danger that he may compromise the evidence collected and prejudice further investigations".

All the more so for an episode that occurred during the investigations. On August 20, 2025, in the offices of the Department of Infrastructures, Vetro hands Teresi yet another bribe. After getting out onto the street, the two are stopped talking in the car. A passerby approaches and warns them: "There is a person photographing your car". Panic ensues. "Definitely a cop", declares Vetro. But it is Teresi who remains more composed than the mafioso, indicating maneuvers to try to track down the mysterious man. And at one point, he gets out of the car to personally look for him. What happens next will be recounted later by Vetro to his brother-in-law Antonio Lombardo (also under investigation): "The bastard (Teresi, ed.) has those Rayban glasses with a camera and video camera... he got in front of this guy and started taking (photographs, ed.)".

"I wonder - continues Vetro - why all this fuss? To prove that (the manager) associates with mafia people." From there even a counter-investigation begins that identifies the origin and identity of the police officer. And it goes further: a few weeks later, the mafioso informs the manager that his phone is being tapped. A mole had informed him.