An alleged computer snooping gang
allegedly led by former supercop Carmine Gallo and Milan Fair
Foundation President Enrico Pazzali that got confidential
information on mostly business, but also some political and
showbiz figures, was a "danger to democracy", the Milanese
prosecutor leading the probe said after it emerged they had
cloned President Sergio Mattarella's email account Sunday.
"It is not an exaggeration to say that these are individuals who
represent a danger to the democracy of this country", said the
prosecutor, Francesco De Tommasi, in investigation documents.
The prosecutor spoke of "extremely dangerous individuals
because, through the activities of illegal dossier-making" with
"the creation of actual prohibited parallel databases and with
the indiscriminate circulation of sensitive, confidential and
secret information, they are able to 'keep citizens and
institutions in their grip'" and "influence" "business dynamics
and public procedures, including judicial ones".
Among those whose confidential information was allegedly
harvested were Paolo Scaroni, former CEO of energy giant Eni and
president of soccer club AC Milan, Giovanni Gorno Tempini,
number one of government investment bank Cassa Depositi e
Prestiti (CDP), and the prominent banker Massimo Ponzellini.
Also targeted were Italy's second highest institutional figure
after Mattarella, Senate Speaker Ignazio la Russa, his son
Geronimo, one of Italy's top lawyers, former Milan Mayor Letizia
Moratti, and Roman singer-songwriter Alex Britti, police said.
The expert allegedly used by Gallo and Pazzali said in a police
wiretap he had 800,000 pieces of confidential data on his hard
disk.
Nunzio Samuele Calamucci allegedly had "at his disposal a hard
disk containing eight hundred thousand SDIs", i.e. information
acquired from the police force database, prosecutors said.
In another conversation in November 2023, Calamucci allegedly
said he had transferred data from "six, seven million USB sticks
that I have".
He had a "huge amount of data to manage - the prosecutors wrote
- equal to at least 15 terabytes", according to the documents of
the investigation by the Milan DDA anti-mafia and anti-terror
prosecutors.
Calamucci was wiretapped as saying "here's how we screw the
whole of Italy" in the case.
One of the sons of late Luxottica boss Leonardo Del Vecchio,
Leonardo Maria, has been placed under investigation in the
Milanese mafia probe.
Banker Matteo Arpe is also among the 60 people probed in the
case, which on Friday led to the arrests of six people.
Former 'super policeman' Gallo, who made his name with the Gucci
'Black Widow' case and high-profile business kidnappings, was
placed under house arrest in the probe.
Gallo was wiretapped saying he had made thousands of reports for
Pazzali.
Those under investigation are accused of complicity in the
illegal access of the alleged organization, composed of hackers,
IT consultants and members of the police force and also centered
on illegal wiretapping.
The investigation also involves former employees of an
investigation company, SKP of Milan.
National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Giovanni Melillo said the case
had revealed a "gigantic and alarming" market for confidential
data.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said hackers are increasingly
ahead of the police and laws must be aligned and brought up to
speed in order to better combat them.
Artificial Intelligence brings a greater risk of data
manipulation, Nordio added.
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the
alleged snoopers posed "an unacceptable threat to democracy"
while Premier Giorgia Meloni made some remarks on her and her
sister Arianna's involvement in another recent snooping case in
the latest book by veteran journalist Bruno Vespa, saying no
state governed by the rule of law can tolerate illegal dossier
gathering.
"The investigations say that the dossier on me began at the end
of the Draghi government when it was clear that I could have
gone to government," she says, referring to the recent case
involving a rogue bank employee.
"On the issue of the dossiers, I expect the judiciary to get to
the bottom of it, because, in the best case scenario, at the
basis of this work there was a system of blackmail and
extortion, but in the worst case scenario we are faced with the
crime of subversion. No rule of law can tolerate something like
this".
The State attorney's office in the Puglia city of Bari is
investigating a former employee of Intesa Sanpaolo bank, Italy's
biggest financial institute, who allegedly "illicitly" accessed
nearly 7,000 times the bank accounts of VIP clients including
Meloni, her former partner, journalist Andrea Giambruno, Senate
Speaker Ignazio La Russa, Meloni's sister Arianna, head of the
secretariat of her rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party,
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Tourism Minister Daniela
Santanchè ,National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Giovanni Melillo,
members of the military, and top footballers and entertainment
figures.
Meloni also says in Vespa's new book excerpted Sunday that
hitting her sister Arianna is like hitting herself.
"When this news came out, my sister sent me a photo of her bank
account statement. There were 2,100 euros. She wrote to me: 'If
they had asked me, I would have told you how much I had in the
account', with a smiley face," the premier says in veteran star
Rai journalist Vespa's book, Hitler and Mussolini. The fatal
idyll that shocked Europe and Italy's central role in the new
Europe.
Meloni goes on: "I think they are targeting Arianna because she
doesn't have the protections that I can have, but hitting her is
like hitting me.
"Unfortunately for them, they are dealing with another person
who has no skeletons in the closet".
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