LAST CHAPTER OF THE “GAMBLING” PROCESS IN ABBREVIATION
“The Court of Appeal – Second Criminal Section closed the last chapter of the “Gambling” trial, celebrated with the abbreviated procedure, ruling against the brothers Francesco and Rocco Ripepi following a referral from the Court of Cassation which had censured the sentence, against to which the appeal was lodged, which attributed to them, among other things, the aggravating circumstance of mafia facilitation pursuant to art. 7 L.203/1991 and Ripepi Rocco alone committed the crime of fictitious interposition pursuant to art. 12 quinquies DL 306/92 for having fictitiously registered, on behalf of the justice collaborator Mario Gennaro, the 25% share of Unigamingitaly Srl, owner of an online gaming platform".
This is what we read in a note from the lawyer. Giancarlo Murolo trusted lawyer of the Ripepi brothers.
“Against this decision, issued on 19/7/2019 by the First Section of the local Court of Appeal, – continues the note – the Ripepis, through their trusted lawyer, proposed an appeal to the Supreme Court, highlighting, in relation to the aforementioned accusations, that the extraneousness to them should have been understood from the same declarations of the collaborator, deus ex machina of the so-called "Gambling" operation, something evidently missed by the Judges of merit of the 1st and 2nd degree of the trial.
In essence, the defender noted that, with regard to the crime of fictitious interposition, Gennaro, during the interrogation of 25/11/2015, had expressly stated that the shares in the aforementioned company actually belonged to the Ripepi, for having conferred the entire capital of Gamingmania they owned into Srl Unigamingitaly, so the alleged crime was to be considered non-existent.
With regard to the aggravating circumstance of mafia facilitation, the lawyer also highlighted the failure to identify significant conduct of the desire to favor the criminal association, since it could not be found in the crime of fictitious interposition, regarding the position of Ripepi Rocco, the proof of it and , for Ripepi Francesco, the unfoundedness of the circumstance reported by the investigators of his alleged false testimony in an important trial, again relating to gambling, as a facilitating activity.
On this point – he finally reads them in the note from the lawyer Murolo – it was highlighted that the collaborator had always declared that the testimony given was absolutely truthful.
The Court of Appeal, in compliance with what was found by the Court of Cassation and reiterated by the lawyer. During the hearing, Giancarlo Murolo acquitted Ripepi Rocco of the crime of fictitious interposition and excluded for both of them the contested aggravating circumstances referred to in the art. 7 L.203/1991, leaving the previous provisions which have become irrevocable unchanged".
