Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/234240
14 2013 in review maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2013 Gangland vendettas, fam CHRIS MANGION spent the greater part of 2013 reporting on the major crimes of the year from inside the Maltese law courts UNLIKE the previous year, 2013 started without any major drama for law enforcement officers but turned into a year seeing eight murders, of which the police solved four. In 2012, the number of murders was 11. ran out for Paul Degabriele, known as 'Is-Suldat', when he was shot outside the Enemalta customer care office in Belt il-Hazna, Marsa. The 49-year-old from Fgura, left a coffee bar and entered into his Toyota Hilux when his assailant drove by in a white van. CCTV footage taken from nearby buildings did not confirm if this was a drive-by shooting, or whether the assailant emerged from the car to kill Degabriele. Witnesses saw a person with bloodstained clothes walking away from the scene. The white van, identified as the assailant's vehicle, was later found burnt in Hamrun. Acquaintances of Degabriele's had informed officers it was strange that the victim was not accompanied by his bodyguard, who apparently met him every day at 6am. The victim's look-out was well known to police circles. The police searched for a white male, approximately 5-foot 8 inches tall, who was either medium-built or well-built. Investigators believed the shooter had been Valentine's Day murder Four days after Valentine's Day, Ronald Galea, 65, of Birkirkara, was shot outside his meat factory in Hal Far. At around 4:45pm on Monday 18 February, Galea left the Continental Meat Company – a meat factory he owned – and drove off in his Ford Mondeo. Upon exiting the vehicle to lock the gate, a hooded man approached the victim and shot him eight times in the back and head. A passer-by heard the shots and saw Galea fall to the ground. Immediately calling the police, the eyewitness informed investigators the hooded killer had left the scene in a silver Toyota Vitz. Moments later an ambulance arrived on site but Ronald Galea had lost his fight with death. Investigators believed that unknown to Galea, his killer had been waiting for him. The weapon used was a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. Two days later, the police held a man in his 30s who worked in the same sector as the victim, to assist them in their investigations. Galea was owed substantial amounts of money, however the credit was all related to his business. The police did not arraign anybody over the killing. The gangland saga Three months later, gunshots claimed the life of another man in the first of four gangland vendetta murders. After pure chance saved him from a car bomb attempt back in 2012, at 11am on 31 May, luck Identikit for suspected murderer of Paul Degabriele 'Is-Suldat' Ta' Pinu Marsalforn Ta' Rummiena Ta' Óamet Qala George Galea accompanied by another man. The first arrest was of an eyewitness at the crime scene. Investigators said the suspect could have also been involved in a car bomb attempt on Degabriele's life. Back in December 2012, Degabriele was arrested in connection with the murder of Joseph Cutajar, 46, known as il-Lion – shot dead as he emerged from his car in Mill Street in Mosta – and Josef Grech, known as il-YoYo, found dead in Bahar icCaghaq. To date, nobody was arraigned over this murder. Barely a month later, the body of notorious drug trafficker Mario Camilleri known as 'l-Imniehru' was found in a field in Birzebbugia, next to the corpse of his son Mario Camilleri Jnr. On 17 July, a day after wife and mother Mona Camilleri reported her husband and her son missing, the police – led by Mona Camilleri's own brother Jason Galea, now charged for the murder – searched a field in the area known as Il- Justin Galea Mario Camilleri 'l-Imniehru' (left) and his son Mario Qajjenza. Underneath a tree and metres away from a small room the police found two bodies buried in shallow graves, the bodies were identified as those of 51-year-old Mario Camilleri 'l-Imniehru', and his son Mario, aged 21. The sum- Festive Lights Plan 2013 Tigne Xlendi Sannat Matthew Zahra Cittadella Castille/Triq Gerolemo Cassar Marsa R/A mer heat and the fact they were buried in manure from a farm adjacent to the field, had accelerated the bodies' decomposition and complicated the autopsy. 24 hours after the discovery, the police arraigned 38-year-old Jason Galea in connection with the murder of the Camilleris. His halfbrother George Galea, 41, was subsequently arraigned over similar charges. Based on court evidence, George Galea was picked up by Jason Galea in Marsaxlokk who turned up with Mario Camilleri Snr. The three drove to the house of a notary in Marsaxlokk where Jason Galea exited from the car, only to return to shoot Camilleri twice in the head. The Galea brothers reclined the passenger seat to cover the dead body and drove off to a field in Birzebbugia where the corpse of Camilleri was lowered into a predug shallow grave. Moments late, Camilleri's son Mario was dropped off at the field by a man identified as Leli 'd-deffien'. Jason Galea started hitting him with a loose floor tile and asked George to retrieve his handgun from inside a room in the field, and shoot Camilleri. When Galea refused, Jason stabbed the youth 34 times then finished him off with two shots. His body was dropped next to that of his father. The case is still ongoing. Magistrate Anthony Micallef Trigona presides. During the search for the Camilleris, the police also unearthed parts of a decomposed corpse. Camilleri's widow Mona told the police she had heard Jason Galea, one of the men accused with her husband's murder, was also involved in the killing of taxi driver Matthew Zahra. Zahra disappeared on 15 August 2012