![]() According to court documents, police bugged his car, and the hidden microphone picked up the sound of machine gun fire from Serafino’s balcony in a Bari suburb on New Year’s Eve, as he and Mr De Benedictis tested out some of their weapons. The brigade has infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments with access to howitzers and other arms. Corporal Major Serafino worked at the passport office of the Italian Armed Forces Mechanised Brigade “Pinerolo” in Bari. According to Lecce prosecutors and the 40-page arrest warrant issued by Investigating Magistrate Guilia Proto, Mr De Benedictis had wiretapped conversations with an Italian Army official in Bari, Corporal Major Antonio Serafino, about how to procure arms and where to hide them. A known, passionate collector of rare and antique guns, he reportedly firsty told authorities he had dumped any questionable weapons into the Adriatic Sea, but police continued to search for the cache, following leads from wiretapped conversations. Prosecutors believe Mr De Benedictis and an Italian army officer may have been helping organised crime gangs move illegal arms through the port city of Bari, but the ex-judge maintains the collection was just a side hobby. Anti-mafia authorities are now investigating whether some military equipment may have been stolen from the Italian army to be sold on the black market. When police lifted the cellar's heavy iron lid, which had been soldered shut, they discovered nearly 200 different weapons, including Kalashnikovs, AR15s, UZI, Socimi and Beretta machine guns, pump action shotguns, CZ and other semi-automatic pistols, hand grenades, 100,000 rounds of ammunition, and even an anti-tank mine. The arsenal was hidden beneath a rural farmhouse among the olive and almond groves north of Bari. It is the biggest mafia trial since the 1980s. It comes as Italy reckons with the ongoing influence of organised crime in a mafia "super-trial," in which more than 350 alleged mobsters and their collaborators will face justice. ![]() ![]() The Bari judge was already facing corruption charges after police bugged gangsters bragging about buying him for 30,000 euros. A new arrest warrant was issued for Giuseppe De Benedictis, after police discovered one of the largest private stashes of weapons ever confiscated in Italy. Italian judge accused of arms trafficking after police discover huge cache of weaponsĪn Italian judge accused of taking bribes to free mobsters from prison is at the centre of an arms trafficking investigation after allegedly amassing a huge arsenal of illegal military-grade weapons. ![]()
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January 2023
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