The Dal Presidente pizzeria in the city of Naples (south), famous because it was opened by the chef who prepared a pizza for former US president Bill Clinton, has closed. The reason has nothing to do with economics, but rather that the Italian authorities seized the establishment this Tuesday in an anti-mafia operation.
Investigators believe that the location, located in the historic center of the city, was used to allegedly finance the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia.
In addition to the closure of the pizzeria, its assets were also confiscated as part of a broader anti-money laundering operation in which five suspects, one of them a police officer, were arrested. Three of them have been sent to prison and the other two are under house arrest, according to local media.
According to the investigation, those involved in the plot used more than 412,000 euros in cash for restaurant and bakery companies, including the ‘Dal Presidente’ pizzeria, as well as for the purchase of real estate. In total, the money seized along with the corporate shares, businesses and real estate properties taken, amounts to a value of about 3.5 million.
The police suspect that the pizzeria was purchased with the financial contribution of a member of the Contini clan, a family group linked to the camorra to which part of the proceeds would have been allocated. This fraudulent economic flow would have continued to occur after the arrest and conviction of one of them for drug trafficking and membership in a criminal organization.
According to the investigations, the pizzeria was run by the brother-in-law of this member of the clan, also with a criminal record. On the other hand, the investigation has reached the conclusion that the mafia plot was also related to another tourist company, which its owner was forced to get rid of after threats and mafia attacks.
Those involved in the case will face a significant list of accusations: fraudulent transfer of capital and money laundering, aggravated by being carried out by mafia methods and to serve as facilitators of the camorra.
