A few months ago the Fuorigrotta boss dictated orders to his followers, spoke of racketeering and criminal strategies: he did it on the phone, despite being held in the Voghera prison: «Put the games in the bars – he said about clandestine betting – I want to see the our games in every club in Coroglio». But it is not the only case in Italy. On the contrary. Hundreds of episodes are reported every year, in dozens of Italian prisons. There is everything, reading the complaints: underage killers stand out who send half-hearted signals of defiance TikTok, bosses who strengthen the ranks of their clan through reel galleries, but also challenges that are consumed from one penitentiary to another.
This is the case reported yesterday morning by the Greens parliamentarian Francesco Emilio Borrelli, about a chat between two guys that appears on Instagram. Who are the interlocutors? He calls himself El Guzman (in honor of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel), he is a Neapolitan probably detained in Campania, but he does not let himself be framed; she, on the other hand, appears on display in the video that is making the rounds on the web, has an Apulian accent and inquires – among other things – about the number of fellow citizens detained in Campania. Checks in progress, the regional supervisor is moving Lucia Castellano, while the Dap management was obviously alerted. A few weeks ago, another video recorded abusively inside a cell appeared on the social network: “At least three bare-backed prisoners, in the days of the great heat of July, were engaged in a live social network, from the confines of a cell: they show a joint (which is called «’a stracciatella»), which they light almost as a collective toast.
Also in this case complaints, reports, disciplinary findings and possible transfers to other prisons were triggered. A known phenomenon, that of smartphones in cells, as emerges from the numbers and statistics of the work carried out – to give a paradigmatic example – by the management of the Poggioreale prison. Hundreds of mobile phones are seized every year in the prison named after Giuseppe Salvia alone, with a level of vigilance that remains extremely high. The seized cell phone numbers and their type are of concern. Until recently, only microcellular phones entered Italian prisons, whose only function was to allow telephone conversations with the outside world. Today however, in the light of the kidnappings and the prison police’s notes, it is understood that the scenario has changed: above all the latest generation telephones enter the cell, which allow you to surf the Internet, stay connected and set up chats via social media. And it’s not just a question of diversionary activities, aimed at breaking down the boredom of life as a prisoner, but also of behaviors functional to strengthening one’s criminal background. There are dozens of cases told in recent months in which reference is made to messages projected from cells to reinforce distorted values or address blatant orders and challenges.
This is the case told a few days ago by Il Mattino (after the complaint of the parliamentarian Borrelli), regarding the message of a 17-year-old: “I always laugh”, via the inevitable social platform. Who is the protagonist of the video? He is the 17-year-old held responsible for seriously injuring a 10-year-old girl last May 23 along the main street of Sant’Anastasia. She, together with an accomplice (adult for a few months), grabbed a machine gun, firing at a group of people, outside a bar where a party of ten-year-old children was taking place. Not even two months later, yet another social challenge is recorded, probably after the intervention of some adult relative of the 17-year-old accused of attempted murder. In fact, there are those who manage to record a conversation that takes place between the young suspect detained in Nisida and his relatives, and then post the 17-year-old’s sentence on TikTok: “I always laugh…” repeats the young criminal, divulging – probably unbeknownst to him – the distorted values of a criminal resistance staged in the cell.
A national alarm, which passes from one platform to another, also in light of what was revealed a few years ago by the then Naples prosecutor John Melillo (today head of the national anti-mafia prosecutor’s office), before the parliamentary anti-mafia commission: “Attention is high – explained the head of the prosecutors in Naples – we seize a lot of them, the phenomenon is growing”. A scenario in which, between a «stracciatella» (a joint in the shape of an ice cream cone), a challenge as a minor and a chat between prisoners in different prisons, rapid interventions are now being hoped for to reclaim entire penitentiary pavilions.
