Exactly one year ago the team of untouchable investigators who worked in the Pavia Prosecutor’s Office must have felt surrounded. The Marshal Antonio Scoppettaself-styled “right-hand man” of the former deputy prosecutor Mario Venditti, was arrested on 13 November 2024 on charges of corruption and stalking. But just a month earlier «although placed with the Forestry Carabinieri, however», he continued «not only to be in contact with the co-suspect Boiocchi (the builder Carlo Primo, ed), but also to comment with the same and with Cristiano Migliavacca (mayor of Lardirago) issues relating to the real estate market, the purchase of his home during the Covid period, as well as the construction of supermarkets and the collection of money for the electoral campaign”. This was written last December by the judges of the Review Court, who, to justify the stay in prison of Scoppettareport a sensational interception. In it Boiocchi comments: «Then comes the horse with Napoleon» (this is an explicit reference to the chief prosecutor of Pavia, Fabius Napoleonwho is currently coordinating the investigation on Scoppetta &c.). The three intercepted people start laughing. But the sergeant immediately changes his attitude: «Wait until two years pass and then you see… in two years he’ll be in the garden with the dog… two years and he’ll be retired».
It seems to count the days. Migliavaccaat this point, he asks, referring to the pension of Sold you on the shore of Lake Lugano: «And where are you going? Is he going to Campione too? (the former deputy, now under investigation for corruption, was president of the Campione d’Italia Casino from 2023 to 2025, ed.)”. The answer of Scoppetta shocks the magistrates: «Nooo! He will go around the gardens of Milan with the dog to take him to take a piss! Reading the newspaper!». The wiretap takes a bad turn: «I’ll buy a gray sweatshirt without writing (they laugh, ed), I put on my hood, I leave the phone here, I get on the subway, I go down to the little garden… I have so much anger inside me that the day I vent it… I have to be careful not to kill him (Napoleoned)”.
For the judges «such an explicit manifestation of anger and resentment demonstrates a highly alarming personality, who could do everything to try to direct the investigations in a more favorable direction. Even in his anger, the suspect shows clarity and investigative competence, underlining that he uses a gray sweatshirt without logos and that he leaves his mobile phone at home, in order to prevent identification”. Reasons that convince the magistrates to leave the marshal in prison. But why Scoppetta did he feel that much resentment? Because before the arrival of Napoleonhe and his associates were the ras of the city and anyone who opposed their power got hurt and risked being expelled for “environmental incompatibility”. The story of the provincial commander of the Carabinieri is emblematic Ernesto Di Gregorio who had entered a collision course with the then lieutenant Maurizio Pappalardoassociate of Scoppetta and a great weaver of relationships, also thanks to his position within the Carabinieri Information Unit.
November 19, 2024 Pietro Piconemember of the Pavia investigative unit, reveals to the Prosecutor’s Office how things were going within the territorial force: «All the provincial commanders who have followed one another since 2011, except By Gregoryhave, in one way or another, asked for favors from Pappalardobecause he knows everyone in Pavia. For example, for the organization of the Army party he took care of the buffet, etc. This was a way for him to gain credibility with the commanders and therefore have wide margins of maneuver to organize his day and the work of the Information Officer. He did all kinds of favors, even bringing clothes to be washed in the laundry (I remember he once did it for the colonel OR.). The only one who didn’t accept this dynamic from day one was the colonel By Gregory».
Thus begins a tug of war between the commander and the lieutenant. To which, in front of the prosecutors, he refers Picone: «Pappalardo he was very down because it was a period in which he was at odds with the colonel By Gregoryso much so that he had applied to go to the Labor Inspection Unit and had even won. Then By Gregory he left and therefore he remained at the Information Unit.” To manage his power over the territory. On November 21, 2024, Giovanni Paismember of the Information Unit, confirms the reconstruction of Picone: «Pappalardo he had a terrible relationship with the colonel By Gregory and, for this reason, he had also applied to go to the Labor Inspectorate, only to then give up”. Before I have to leave town, By Gregory he had been summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office, where he was asked why he wanted to deprive himself of such a precious resource. Unfortunately, for the officer, Pappalardo it wasn’t that important. And it didn’t hurt him. On November 14, 2024, the general confided to the deputy prosecutor Stefano Civardi the reason why he left Pavia: «It was represented to me by the Commander of the General Staff that to restore serenity in “institutional relations” it was appropriate for me to transfer, anticipating the natural turnover by a few months. I made no objections, nor did I ask for access to the documents.”
By Gregory explains that the “serenity in institutional relations” had broken down during an investigation into a policeman: “I believe that, following the arrest of the officer AM and the positions I had taken with the then Public Prosecutor Dr Cioppa (Gustavo, ed) and the deputy prosecutor, doctor Sold youless serenity with the judicial authorities could be perceived”. But in the background, as can be seen from the rest of the testimony, there was the bad relationship with Pappalardo.
«When I took up service in Pavia the lieutenant showed up sua spontaneously in my office. I greeted him briefly and dismissed him. I understood that the lieutenant had an excessively “entry” attitude and I made his direct manager, the commander of the operational department, aware of reminding the lieutenant to follow the hierarchical line in his relationships. Before taking up service in Pavia, moreover, I had informed myself about the context and had been warned that the lieutenant was particularly available for the most varied needs, including personal ones”.
The magistrates ask the general what the “special merits” were that led to the promotion of Pappalardo And By Gregory is clear: «Given that the transition took place when I was no longer in Pavia, I don’t think that the major Pappalardo was promoted for particular merits, but I believe that he simply participated in a very broad competition.” On record By Gregory explains what the duties of the then lieutenant at the Information Unit were: «He reported information on economic-social contexts that may present critical issues or in any case be of interest; this news normally complements the so-called “special information” reports addressed to the hierarchical scale and constitutes the most qualifying activity of the “information units.” In three and a half years I have never seen a report of this nature generated by the Lieutenant Pappalardo. Even the “semi-annual reports” on public order and security were decidedly “ordinary” and did not denote a particular ability to penetrate the social context, which was somehow dystonic compared to the very extensive network of knowledge of Pappalardoespecially in the Pavia area.” In short, the lieutenant, thanks to his role, had relationships with personalities of all kinds, but this did not produce concrete results. The information collected remained the personal heritage of Pappalardo who evidently used them pro domo sua. When prosecutors ask a By Gregory what a typical day was like Pappalardothe general points out: «I know, from personally verifying it, that the lieutenant went very often to the prosecutor’s offices, in particular to those of the prosecutor and the deputy». And when the investigators ask why he did it, the answer is: “I can’t explain it.” And here we are at the most interesting question: «Are you aware of a particular and targeted circulation of anonymous people (exposed, ed) received during your period of command at the Public Prosecutor’s Office? Answer: «I have no information on the “manufacturing” of anonymous people. However, shortly after moving to Naples, I myself received comments from colleagues in the Roman environment, surprised that I had bought a house at auction in Pavia. I would like to point out that I actually bought a house following a judicial sale at the Court of Pavia at the valuation price. In any case, I was surprised that it was being talked about in particularly distant places, so I have reason to believe that I myself was reached either by slander or by an anonymous complaint.”
Exploiting databases and looking for negative news on enemies seems to have been the team’s specialty. As the lieutenant confirmed Salvatore Campaanother carabiniere who collided with the team of investigators. «Once while I was in the office I saw someone pass by Scoppetta with Soap (Silvio, who at that moment had moved from the role of head of the Carabinieri branch of the Prosecutor’s Office to that of honorary deputy prosecutor, ed.) who looked at me in an unusual way. They were going towards the office of Sold you. Shortly afterwards I saw the sergeant pass in the same direction Daniele Ziri of the Nil (the Labor Inspectorate Unit, ed)”. Probably the topic of the meeting was a building inspection carried out in the apartment of the wife of the soldier who had recently taken over Soap in command of the Carabinieri unit, but which in reality had been put aside by Sold you: «I immediately underwent a check in my wife’s apartment» the witness says in the minutes. “They didn’t issue any fines to you, only to the builder, I think for a matter of personnel subcontracting.” Shortly after the verification, Campa is summoned by Venditti: «He asked me to close the door and said to me: “You see, I’m always sitting here, I’m always in the office, but I know everything about everyone”. And he added that he knew that I was renovating an apartment owned by my wife without the necessary permits.” The lieutenant replied to the accusations: «I told him that it wasn’t true, that everything was in order, to better evaluate the information he had. He replied that it would be embarrassing to complain about such a violation to a senior head of the judicial police.”
The then provincial commander of the Carabinieri Luciano Calabròinformed of the affair, would have asked Campa. «Who do you think played this joke on you?». And the lieutenant admitted that he was “in a situation of isolation in the office” and that he feared “being the subject of some retaliation”. Sold youfor his part, would not have been tender even towards those who had decided on the checks without his knowledge: “Since they are staff of the Prosecutor’s Office, I would like to receive the documents directly on my desk and I demand to be informed of any developments relating to this check” he would have hissed before sending the matter to the archive.
