Ten people were arrested, among which two women, in a large anti-mafia operation this morning at dawn in the province of Trapani by the police of Alcamo. The accusations are Mafia association, extortion, fire, damages, illegal detention of weapons and explosives and selling of stolen goods. The investigation, carried out by Palermo’s public prosecutor Maria Teresa Principato and by the Dda magistrates Paolo Guido and Carlo Marzella, reconstructed the movements of the Mafia family of Alcamo, the Melodia, linked to the fugitive boss Matteo Messina Denaro.

Among the people people, all from Alcamo, are the brothers Nicolò and Diego Melodia, 85 and 74 years old, considered the present leaders of the group, and respectively the father and the uncle of Antonino Melodia. There were also two women: Anna Maria Accurso, wife of Antonino Melodia, in prison, and Anna Greco, daughter of one of the arrested. According to the investigators, Accurso received and kept the money paid by citizens for protection. Anna Greco instead sent the letters and collected the protection money. The victims of extortions were obliged to pay up to 200 Euros to the Mafiosi.

The investigations revealed several episodes of retaliation, for example the fire of Antonino Pedone’s house and the attempted extortion against a building company, Construction Company, for 10 thousand euros. And finally the attempted extortion against the car dealer Magauto for 25 thousand Euros.

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute