"If he gets elected the next day, we'll go knock." Politician asked the clan to vote for a member of the Brothers of Italy party.

A liaison between politics and criminal circles is at the center of the investigation coordinated by the Bari District Anti-Mafia Directorate . The investigation, which led to the arrest of six people , including Modugno councilor Antonio Lopez , a Forza Italia candidate in the upcoming regional elections, revealed alleged attempts at political-mafia exchanges during the 2020 municipal elections and the 2024 European elections. Thirteen people are under investigation in total, including Modugno mayor Nicola Bonasia (no precautionary measures) and Felice Giuliani of Stornara (prison) of the Villa Giuliani resort located in the five real sites in the province of Foggia.

According to investigators, the politician allegedly maintained contacts with individuals believed to be close to criminal circles to obtain packages of votes in exchange for favors and promises of future availability . €25 per vote. The conversations, reconstructed in the 300-page indictment, outline a system in which the pursuit of consensus also occurred through "informal channels" and consolidated bonds of trust between Lopez and a woman from the Diomede clan of Bari.

Wiretaps: "Reliable people and favors to ask for later"

From the chats acquired by investigators, expressions emerge that set the tone of the negotiations. In one of these, Lopez sent Diomede an image of the election poster of Michele Picaro, a member of the Brothers of Italy party who is not involved in the investigation , and proposed: "Can we give Michele a hand by tomorrow? Even ten people, what do you say? Obviously ten, fifteen, twenty... reliable people. He's a friend, a true friend. So, in short, if everything goes well and he's elected, we'll go knocking on the door the next day ." The woman's response: " Don't worry, I'll take care of it . Most of them are friends, you can change a few."

The investigators underline how the language used and the references to "favors to ask" and "networks of acquaintances" outline a picture of exchange of influence and votes , typical of clientelistic dynamics rooted in the territory.

The Striscia service

The chats between Lopez and Diomede also discussed a Striscia la Notizia report about a supposed member of the Diomede clan who threatened the program's correspondent. Shortly after 10:00 PM on the day the program aired, less than an hour after the episode ended, Lopez received an image from Diomede depicting the face of the person who had identified himself as a member of the criminal organization.

The Diomede family expressed considerable disappointment over the incident, as the man, although identifying himself as Diomede, was a complete stranger to the family. This circumstance triggered the subsequent launch of a manhunt, clearly intended for punishment.

Diomede asked Lopez if he knew the person in the photo, then explained what had happened. Lopez : "Someone does nothing and gets smeared."

Diomede : “Who the fuck knows this idiot? Believe me, Anto, I don't give a damn, because if we knew, we should have gone and picked him up from inside the house this evening. I mean, it's crazy. We even called Striscia la Notizia, but Striscia la Notizia isn't... it always says busy, then we saw that the answering machine picked up tomorrow morning. Because we want to know now, I mean, but you see, it's crazy, this idiot! This idiot! People can look at us and say, 'Look what these guys are doing?'. Now, Striscia la Notizia can figure out who he is, because from the license plate number and everything else, they're going to pick him up, this big guy! But people, Anto, how do they look at us? With different eyes. 'These bastards! This guy is a bastard!'”

Lopez : “What kind of asshole does he have?” Diomede : “He's driving us crazy, because they took—get it?—a picture of each of us to get the best possible picture, because we couldn't manage it, we were going crazy. This piece of shit! But tomorrow we have to find him, we have to find this asshole. We have to find this bastard!”

The next morning, Diomede warned Lopez that the character had been identified and that they would go and pick him up, all with the clear intent of protecting the good name and criminal reputation of the Diomede family.

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