Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1287818
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS KURT SANSONE AN Italian businessman was left bleeding, with broken ribs and smashed teeth after a savage at- tack in Malta by three members of the 'Ndrangheta. The brutal incident happened in Marsaskala last January when the Mafiosi from Milan roughed up Giovanni D'Alessandro after he failed to pay them for work they carried out for him. The information comes from court documents in Italy ob- tained by MaltaToday, after the three men and others were charged with various mafia-style crimes earlier this month. The Malta attack, documented in al- most 100 pages, was one of the crimes listed in the charges. The documents include tran- scripts of phone intercepts that show the men boasting of how they punched and kicked the vic- tim. The victim, who resides in Mal- ta, owns Valmeda Srl, a build- ing company that is working on several construction sites on the island. Two brothers, Giuseppe and Michele di Novara, and Giovan- ni Lillo, stand accused of brutally attacking D'Alessandro. Lillo's partner, Francesca Ris- poli, known as Chicca, is also accused of involvement in the crime after she booked the flight tickets used by the aggressors to travel to and from Malta. Rispoli is the daughter of mafia boss Vincenzo Rispoli, who is in jail. Giuseppe di Novara is mar- ried to Vincenzo's sister. Francesca Rispoli also encour- aged and applauded the aggres- sors for their actions because "in this way the victim would know the 'Ndrangheta still existed". The Rispolis operate in Legna- no, a suburb of Milan. Although the 'Ndrangheta originates in the southern region of Reggio Calabria, the notorious organised criminal group laid roots in Milan and the surround- ing provinces in the 1950s. 'He did a Kenshiro on him' In one of the intercepted phone calls, Giuseppe gave Francesca the gory details of the attack: "Teeth on the floor… blood everywhere… I had fun… and then Giovanni [Lillo] massacred him," before referencing a Japa- nese Manga comic character to denote the brutality with which D'Alessandro was despatched. "He did a Kenshiro on him, he broke him, six or eight times he broke him." Giuseppe, Michele and Lillo were claiming €2,900, €1,100 and €3,000 respectively for work they did on the businessman's build- ing sites in Malta between No- vember 2019 and January 2020. The three were employed ille- gally and had been suggested to the Malta-based Italian by a cer- tain Saverio Chiarello. Phone intercepts show that the Novara brothers travelled on an Air Malta flight from Milan's Li- nate airport that landed in Malta at 5:05pm on 25 January. They immediately proceeded to Mar- saskala where the victim lives. Giuseppe had come to Malta with the intention of returning to Italy with his money at all costs. But the businessman, fearing the worst, had transferred €1,000 in- to Giuseppe's account while the latter was travelling. This enraged Giuseppe further, with phone intercepts showing how he lamented that the busi- nessman had finally coughed up the money and yet still allowed him to travel to Malta and as a consequence, incur further ex- penses. A phone intercept revealed how Giuseppe called his niece at 6:32pm, just 90 minutes af- ter landing in Malta, to tell her about the bashing he gave the victim. "I beat him up… I broke everything… he is all bloodied," Giuseppe said, admitting that in the fracas he accidentally injured his brother when he shut a door on his hands, believing it was the businessman's. At that point, the Novara brothers had taken D'Alessan- dro's car, loaded him into it and drove to go and reach Lillo, who was in Malta. A phone intercept revealed how Rispoli then informed her mother of what happened in Malta and expressed concern that her boyfriend, unlike her uncle, could leave the victim for dead. The vicious attack on the vic- tim was over by 7:39pm when Giuseppe and Lillo phoned Francesca Rispoli to inform her of the outcome. Lillo boasted to his girlfriend that he went "bowling" and managed a "strike", and that the victim had to go to hospital for treatment. The three men were not both- ered with the businessman's threat of reporting the matter to the Maltese police, with Lillo in- sisting that he will admit to the attack and say he was provoked into it. He also claimed to have other workers employed by the busi- nessman, who were ready to re- port the illegal work conditions they were subjected to. After the brutal attack, the ag- gressors went to chill over a beer. Mater Dei Hospital records obtained by Italian prosecutors show that D'Alessandro was ad- mitted to hospital at 8:10pm. He sustained severe bruising to the abdomen and face, had broken ribs and missing teeth. He was discharged from hospital two days later and was prescribed painkillers for a whole month. Passenger data obtained by the prosecutors showed that the three attackers returned to Ita- ly the day after on an Air Malta flight. The businessman had settled part of the dues in cash, including the flight expenses, and author- ised money transfers to the three men. The whole affair came to a close on 29 January when the last payment was made to Lillo. It is unclear whether the case is subject to an investigation by the Malta police. Milanese 'Ndrangheta clan sent its heavies to Malta to give savage 'Kenshiro' beating to Italian businessman and collect payment Mafiosi in vicious attack on Italian businessman in Malta 'Ndrangheta boss Vincenzo Rispoli (right) and the headlines of the 11 arrests on the Legnano clan