Bari prosecutors seek trial for 102 people over slot and VLT money laundering

Prosecutors in Bari have asked for 102 people to be sent to trial following an investigation into an alleged system for controlling slot and video lottery halls linked to the Diomede and Mercante clans, according to the prosecution's request. The preliminary hearing at which the request will be examined is scheduled for 9 December in the Court of Assizes in Bari.

According to investigators, the businesses were used to launder money of illicit origin. The mechanism reportedly involved people with criminal records, entrepreneurs and professionals in the Puglia capital, with the alleged support of an accountant. The charges include, in various capacities, criminal association, money laundering, self-laundering and private violence with the mafia aggravating circumstance, as well as embezzlement, fraudulent bankruptcy and tax offences.

A central element of the prosecution case concerns the purchase of winning tickets from players who had obtained them lawfully. The tickets were allegedly handed over against payment and then registered to people belonging or close to the clans. According to the prosecution's reconstruction, the winnings thereby gave an apparently lawful justification for the availability of money from criminal activity, allowing its origin to be concealed.

The investigation had already led to the arrest of 20 people in July.