The Cold Summer

by Gianrico Carofiglio

  QUESTION What did you do after that?

  ANSWER The Losurdos drove me home in their car. All three of us were aware that we had to get out of Bari as quickly as we could, because within a short time there would be a violent reaction from Grimaldi and his men. We could not rule out the possibility that they might even attempt to hurt members of our families. So we decided that we would leave the following morning, taking with us the cocaine I had collected in Rozzano. When the Losurdos left, I switched back on the mobile phone I had deliberately switched off earlier to prevent Grimaldi from contacting me. I was certain that, not hearing from Capocchiani about the recovery of the cocaine, he would start to look for me. And in fact a few minutes after I had switched the phone back on, his call came in.

  QUESTION What did he say to you?

  ANSWER He asked me what had happened and why my phone had been off. I said that I had not switched it off, but that there had probably been a problem with the network. He asked me if I had gone to collect the cocaine and why I had not brought it to him. I told him that Capocchiani had not picked me up and was not replying on his mobile. That was why I had not gone to get the cocaine.

  QUESTION Did you speak openly about the cocaine?

  ANSWER I did not, and nor did he at the beginning of the call. Then, as I am about to tell you, he lost his composure, especially when, playing my part, I asked him if he knew what had happened to Capocchiani.

  QUESTION And what did he say?

  ANSWER He flew into a rage. Naturally, he did not believe me. He screamed that I should be telling him what had happened to Capocchiani, that I was a lousy snitch, that I had to recover the cocaine immediately and take it straight to him. Perhaps if I did that, he would not kill me like my friend Losurdo. Otherwise, he said, he would have me quartered like a pig and leave me to bleed to death. He was beside himself, so furious that he abandoned all caution on the telephone, speaking freely about drugs and killings.

  QUESTION What did you reply?

  ANSWER I tried to keep calm. I reminded him that he was talking on the phone, I said that if he stopped acting crazy I was always ready to reason with him and to find a solution. That pissed him off even more. He screamed a few more insults at me, said he was coming to get me and hung up.

  QUESTION What did you do then?

  ANSWER I told my wife to pack the essentials and get our child ready. I went and recovered some weapons – not those used to kill Capocchiani – specifically, two 9 x 21 calibre semiautomatic pistols, a sawn-off shotgun and a Kalashnikov. All with the corresponding ammunition.

  QUESTION Where did you go to get these weapons?

  ANSWER I am sorry, dottoressa, but I prefer not to say. The person holding them for me was a clean young man, who has never done anybody any harm and who was keeping the weapons partly out of friendship, partly out of fear.

  QUESTION Let me remind you that you do not have the luxury of choosing what to say and what not to say. Cooperating with the law – and enjoying the corresponding benefits – requires statements completely devoid of any kind of reticence. So I repeat the question: who was keeping these weapons?

  After a long hesitation, the suspect asks for the interview to be suspended in order to consult his defence lawyer.

  10

  Lopez and Avvocato Formica went into another room, to talk alone. Fenoglio took advantage of the break to go to his office. In reality, he had nothing to do, but it was an opportunity to stretch his legs and try to clear his head.

  He only managed the first of these things.

  He knew what would happen soon. Formica, even though inexperienced in criminal law, would confirm to her client what D’Angelo had already put on record: the decision to cooperate with the law and the benefits that may derive from it are incompatible with any kind of reticence. Lopez would go along with it, revealing the identity of the “clean young man … who was keeping the weapons partly out of friendship, partly out of fear”, and getting him in serious trouble, given that the possession of assault weapons is a serious offence liable to severe punishment.

  Of course, the legal rules were clear, as was the solution; there was no room for reflection or speculation. But were the ethical rules governing a case like this equally clear? From the point of view of individual morality, was it right to get someone who has helped you out of friendship – or fear – into trouble? It was the kind of question that Fenoglio asked himself with tiresome frequency, whenever similar cases arose. By law, close relatives of a defendant or suspect can refuse to testify; in other words, legal reticence is allowed for ethical reasons, because the idea of forcing someone to testify against his or her own mother, father or child is unacceptable.

  But what about in other cases that are ethically similar, however different from a legal point of view?

  Once, they had arrested a girl who was buying blocks of hashish and selling them on in small portions at friends’ parties. Dubious behaviour, and certainly illegal. But forcing her closest friend to testify against her about these episodes, under threat of arrest, had struck Fenoglio as an unpleasant thing to do, although legally irreproachable.

  More generally, even being obliged to tell the truth is never as clear-cut as it may seem at first sight.

  Walk with an honest, upright person for half a mile and he will tell you at least seven lies. Who had told him that? Fenoglio couldn’t remember, but that sentence contained a basic truth. Our daily lives, the things we say, are riddled with lies of which we are seldom aware. The same thing happens in the world of investigations and legal proceedings, where everybody lies, often in good faith and with the best of intentions, often without even realizing it.

  He had once brought up these arguments with Serena, who had found them hard to follow. In order to explain, he had given her an example, something that had actually happened.

  Imagine an anti-drug operation, he had told her. Imagine that the presumed dealers have been observed at a distance exchanging something – sachets of some kind, apparently – with some youths. After a while, the carabinieri decide to intervene, and the dealers run away. There begins a chase during which, at times, the carabinieri lose sight of the dealers, although in the end the latter are caught up with and stopped. The problem is that a rapid search reveals that they don’t have the drugs on them. So the carabinieri retrace their steps and find a small packet filled with doses of cocaine lying on the ground. Nobody has seen anyone throw this small packet away, but you can bet that both the arrest sheet and the seizure report will state that the suspects were seen getting rid of the package as they made their escape. The person who writes this – in other words, any carabiniere or police officer who has found himself in a situation like this – doesn’t think of it as a lie, let alone that there’s anything wrong in writing that he’s seen something he hasn’t in fact seen.

  Fenoglio’s mind was shifting dangerously from ethical speculations to the memory of Serena when Pellecchia arrived to tell him that the interview was resuming.

  11

  After a suspension of about twenty minutes, the interview is resumed in the presence of the same persons as previously indicated.

  QUESTION Having conferred with your defence lawyer, have you decided to reveal the name of the person who kept weapons on your behalf?

  ANSWER Yes, but I want to emphasize again that he is a decent person, a young man with a job, who has never taken part in any criminal activity. His name is Gaetano Cellammare, he owns a metal workshop near the cemetery – they make mostly door frames – and on a few occasions he has indeed held weapons for me. He kept them in the scrap iron section. On the three occasions when I went to collect the weapons, it was he who went to the back of the workshop and returned with the weapons wrapped in cloths. This is what he did the last time. I have not seen him since then. As I have already said, I do not believe that Cellammare has ever been involved in any criminal activity.

  QUESTION What happened then?

  ANSWER After collecting the we
apons, I phoned Rocco Bevilacqua, a Roma living in Pescara who is quite highly placed in organized crime in Abruzzo. I had done business with him in the past and it was a kind of personal friendship. I told him that I needed his help, that I required a house that was quiet and possibly spacious in his area and that when I was there I would talk to him about a thing for which there were great prospects of gain. As Bevilacqua knew me well, he did not ask any questions, apart from asking me when I needed the house. When I told him that I needed it the next day, he did not make any comment, but simply replied “Okay.”

  QUESTION To what were you referring when you spoke about great prospects of gain?

  ANSWER I intended to let him have the cocaine I had picked up in Rozzano.

  QUESTION What was the value of this cocaine?

  ANSWER I should point out first of all that it was good-quality merchandise and that we had paid the Cerignola people in Rozzano 580 million lire, which was a discount price, the initial request having been for 600. Sold in doses, after being cut with mannite or lidocaine, it might bring in more than a billion and a half, perhaps even two. Naturally, in the urgent situation in which I found myself, I could not envisage being involved in the packaging and selling, which requires, among other things, the availability of a network of dealers. My intention was to sell it to Bevilacqua, hoping to make as much as possible, although the conditions of the sale would obviously not be advantageous to me. In fact, in the end, we agreed on 450 million, with the understanding that we would keep a hundred grams for our personal use.

  QUESTION Was Bevilacqua in a position to get hold of such a large sum?

  ANSWER Actually, he needed a few days to get the money together. But he is an important figure who runs a lot of illegitimate and profitable businesses in that area.

  QUESTION Continue with your story.

  ANSWER After talking to Bevilacqua, I called one of the Losurdo brothers and told him that I was bringing forward my departure for Abruzzo. I would be leaving that very evening. I explained that it was urgent, given that by now Grimaldi had realized that I had taken possession of that consignment of cocaine. But they could take their time, perhaps even wait until the next day, because at the moment there was nothing to connect them with the killing of Capocchiani. They called me back soon afterwards, telling me that they would come that night as well. I had the impression that this decision was influenced by their worry that I might disappear with the cocaine. Whatever the case, just before dawn, we left in two cars. There was myself, my wife, my three-year-old son, Antonio Losurdo with his wife (or perhaps his partner, I am not sure) and Pasquale Losurdo, who was alone.

  QUESTION Doesn’t Pasquale Losurdo have family?

  ANSWER He is separated and on very bad terms with his wife, who has moved up north. After the separation he moved back in with his elderly mother.

  QUESTION What happened when you got to Pescara?

  ANSWER We met with Bevilacqua, and the first thing he did was take us to the house he had found for us. It was a spacious, partly furnished house on the outskirts, in a very decent condition. He did not tell me whose it was, and I did not ask him. That same morning, we discussed the matter of the cocaine. The day before, I had made sure to take a sample so that he could test it. I did not tell him that I already had the cocaine with me.

  QUESTION Why?

  ANSWER Because it is good to trust people, dottoressa, but better not to. Bevilacqua was a friend, but it is hard to predict how someone will react when so much money is involved. Anyway, he tested the cocaine and admitted it was very good. So we sealed the deal – but only after he had asked me what had happened and why I had had to leave Bari.

  QUESTION Did you tell him the whole story?

  ANSWER The essentials, which were that there had been a rift with Grimaldi, that the situation had become untenable and that I feared for my safety. I told him that I wanted to stay there for a while before deciding if I should go back to Bari or move north for good.

  QUESTION Did Bevilacqua ask you where the cocaine came from?

  ANSWER No. I think he had guessed some of it, but he did not ask me anything.

  QUESTION How did you arrange for payment?

  ANSWER We came to an understanding that when he had the money he would inform me, and I would go down, pick up the cocaine and hand it over to him. As I have said, though, I already had the cocaine with me. When he left, I found a closet in the cellar of the house and hid it there.

  QUESTION Was the deal completed?

  ANSWER Yes. Three days later, Bevilacqua called to say that he had the money and we agreed to meet the following day. As far as he knew, I had to travel to recover the consignment. In actual fact, I did decide to come back to Bari, because I wanted to talk to some people and get an idea of the situation.

  QUESTION Had you heard from anyone since you had left?

  ANSWER Only Cosimo Pontrelli, an associate whose job was to fix up stolen cars or prepare them for robberies, as well as producing keys for opening them. I had called him, firstly because he was my godson – I had been the head of the capriata at his affiliation – and secondly because I knew he was well connected in criminal circles but not too close to Grimaldi.

  QUESTION Did you tell Pontrelli what had happened?

  ANSWER No. I used an excuse to justify the call – I asked him how long it would take him to get hold of a couple of Lancia Themas for me – and I told him I was away on business.

  QUESTION What did he say? Did he know about what had happened between you and Grimaldi?

  ANSWER If he did know, he gave no indication. He spoke to me quite naturally – he said that it would take two or three days to get the cars if I confirmed it, and I replied that I would let him know – and above all, he did not even mention Capocchiani. So, unless he was pretending, which I do not think he was, the news had not yet got out.

  QUESTION Was Grimaldi not looking for you?

  ANSWER I have no idea. I had got rid of my old telephone and the corresponding number and had acquired a new one before leaving.

  QUESTION Did you drive down by yourself?

  ANSWER Yes. Even though the absence of the Losurdos would soon be noticed and Grimaldi and his men would be bound to assume that they had gone with me, I did not want the matter to be clear immediately.

  QUESTION I can tell you that in subsequent interviews you will be shown photographs and asked to make identifications, but for now I would ask you to indicate to me briefly the number of people affiliated with Grimaldi.

  ANSWER To answer that question with any accuracy it is necessary to clarify that some affiliates do not live in the area and are not organically part of the group. These are people who have received the flower from Grimaldi or his godsons but who belong to different clans, from other parts of the region.

  QUESTION Can you explain what “receiving the flower” means?

  ANSWER It is one of the expressions we use to refer to affiliation or promotion from one rank to another. The flower or the gift are, basically, the privilege of affiliation or promotion.

  QUESTION Let us go back to the number of affiliates.

  ANSWER Yes, as I was saying, there are many affiliates who derive their status in the organization directly or indirectly from Grimaldi. I could not give an exact figure, but I would say at least 200, perhaps more. The operatives are naturally fewer in number, approximately some fifty people. To this number should be added the network of street-level dealers, who are not affiliates (although the best of them are affiliated after a period of observation) but who still have to account to the clan and respect all the rules laid down for these activities. I refer in particular to the division of the territory into areas and to the type of drug that each person is authorized to deal.

  QUESTION How were you thinking of waging war on such a large organization with the help only of the Losurdo brothers?

  ANSWER I had a plan. The idea was to practise a kind of guerrilla war, getting help with logistical matters from others i
n the territory, but keeping their identities hidden to avoid reprisals. Not being on the spot was an advantage to us because they would not know where to look for us. I thought that, once I had killed two or three important members of the clan, I would be able to bring other people over to my side and then launch a final assault. An alternative to this plan was to strike two or three times then offer to make peace with Grimaldi. In actual fact, though, this second hypothesis never struck me as too feasible.

  QUESTION Let us go back to your trip from Pescara to Bari to look around. What emerged from that?

  ANSWER Not very much. I met with a few people, but nobody important. A couple of people told me that Grimaldi was looking for me, but they did not give me the impression they knew why. Then I went back to Pescara. I met with Bevilacqua, he gave me the money and I gave him the cocaine. At that point I asked him if he could get hold of weapons for me. He asked me what my intentions were. He was worried that I wanted to do something in his area, which would cause trouble for him. I made it clear that I needed the guns for a robbery in my own area and assured him that I would not keep them in that house. Having received these reassurances, he agreed and told me that he would be able to get me a few pistols, a semiautomatic rifle and, if I wanted it – although it would cost me a lot – a Skorpion machine pistol. I replied that the Skorpion and a .44 Magnum revolver with the serial number erased would be fine. I chose the Skorpion, which I had already used in the past, because it is a very versatile weapon: it can be carried like a normal pistol but fires as rapidly as a machine gun and, with the stock folded, becomes a genuine sub-machine gun, but one which it is possible to aim accurately. The .44 Magnum is a very powerful gun, suitable for operations in which it is necessary to penetrate car doors and bodywork with some certainty of achieving results. A few hours later, Bevilacqua brought them over, together with the corresponding ammunition. He asked me for two million, to which I agreed without arguing. These weapons, too, are among those to which I led you.