Attempted extortion with the aggravating circumstance of mafia methods is the crime charged in the trial that concluded this afternoon in Tempio Pausania for several incidents that occurred in Olbia and Loiri Porto San Paolo in 2008.

Giulio Melfi and Francesco Carta, from Nuoro, were sentenced to four years and six months in prison for demanding protection money from a Campania businessman. The judges of the Tempio Tribunal (presided by Caterina Interlandi) accepted the requests of the Cagliari DDA prosecutor, Gilberto Ganassi.

According to the prosecution's hypothesis, the green light for the threats against the victim came from a presumed Caserta mafia boss, Giancarlo Di Sarno, who was in Nuoro prison at the time of the events. The intended recipient of the boss's words, according to the Cagliari DDA, is Giulio Melfi, also from Campania.

Carabinieri from the ROS special operations unit intercepted a conversation in the Nuoro prison during which instructions were given on how to pressure the racketeering victim. First, shots were fired at the construction site, and then the Campanian businessman received threatening phone calls.

The two people under accusation have always denied the charges.

Carta's lawyer, Gianni Falchi, said that the man, who was very young at the time of the alleged threats, was a person with a job and a family, far removed from the description given in the investigation documents.

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