New evidence on false origin of wheat. Intrigue and threats. The second episode of ‘Spaghetti Westerns Abruzzese Style‘ elevates director Filippo Antonio De Cecco and his cronies to heights unimaginable to any other food industry on the planet. Preview to follow.
‘Spaghetti western all’abruzzese 2,’ the plot
The Chieti Public Prosecutor’s Office wants to dismiss the trade fraud investigation, but a consumer association opposes it. Meanwhile, amicable relations of director Filippo Antonio De Cecco with Giovanni Legnini, former president of the CSM (Superior Council of the Magistracy) repeatedly mentioned in Alessandro Sallusti and Luca Palamara’s best-selling book, emerge. (1)
To the 5 thousand tons of French wheat renamed Pugliese, already documented in the first episode, (2) are added 30 thousand tons of North Dakota wheat at least in part presented with the noblest geographic references to Arizona and California.
The whistleblower – or ‘deep throat,’ by reference to the Watergate that swept Richard Nixon up in 1972 (3) – meanwhile receives serious new threats. And the director, in turn seeking protection, affiliates himself with Coldiretti’s magic circle.
5,000 tons of French wheat renamed as Apulian, request for dismissal
The deputy prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the fraud involving 4,575 tons of French wheat renamed ‘Apulian’ on the orders of Filippo Antonio De Cecco, Giuseppe Falasca of the Chieti Public Prosecutor’s Office, appears to have asked for the file to be closed. A consumer association whose name is unknown to us, however, has reportedly lodged opposition toward the attempt to cover up the investigation of facts that appear to have already been amply proven, as we have seen. (2) The decision is now entrusted to GIP (Judge for Preliminary Investigations) Luca De Ninis, at the outcome of an appropriate hearing.
The crime of fraud in trade occurs whenever, in a commercial activity, a movable thing is delivered to the purchaser that differs–in origin or provenance, quality, quantity–from that stated or agreed upon (Criminal Code, Article 515). In this case, the false accounting entry of the foreign invoice was followed by the sale of thousands of tons of pasta falsely labeled and advertised as ‘from the best Italian, Arizona and California grains‘ and instead derived from French wheat. (2)
Filippo Antonio De Cecco and Giovanni Legnini, a bond ‘of value’
Giovanni Legnini is a prominent jurist and politician in the Abruzzo constituency. (4) And it is precisely during the period 2014-2018, when he was covering the post of vice-president of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, that a ‘valuable’ link emerges with Filippo Antonio De Cecco, who:
– offered Piernicola Di Nizio, Legnini’s nephew, a top-notch internship. None other than to the management control directorate of F.lli De Cecco SpA in 2015,
– donated to Giovanni Legnini, on the occasion of his visit to the pasta factory celebrated by ‘il Centro’ newspaper on 10.1.15, ‘a work by master Arnaldo Pomodoro entitled La Stele. A ‘gift’ worth about 8,000 euros, which would have been worth an investigation though.
Declared influences on Abruzzi’s justice system
Intercepts of dialogues between Luca Palamara and Valerio Fracassi, both CSM councilors, also reveal ‘the weight of the former head of the CSM [Giovanni Legnini] that in his hometown (Chieti) he managed to bring Francesco Testa [to head the Chieti Public Prosecutor’s Office, ed.] and also choose the president of the court, Guido Campli‘ (source ‘La Verità,’ daily, 11.6.20). Filippo Antonio De Cecco in turn flaunts his ability to influence local magistrates and politicians. In threatening one of the fifteen or so executives he put in the door within a few months he makes his point.
‘So here (…) we are from Pescara and Chieti and being citizens of Pescara and Chieti we live in a context where there is a mayor, actually two, there are two prosecutors, two Presidents of Courts, there is a President of the region, the same. You say but what’s this mo’ about? Unfortunately, he gets it right because certain times we suffer from, let’s call them, recommendations.
Most of the time the recommendations that we receive from these gentlemen we keep them quite far away, sometimes, however, a little bit for quiet living, a little bit to keep quiet especially when we talk about the Court, prosecutors’ offices, etc., certain recommendations are accepted!’ (5,6).
30 thousand tons of North Dakota wheat, integration of complaint
Mario Aruffo – wingman to regent Filippo Antonio De Cecco as well as purchasing director – on 9.4.19 emails to another executive the forecast data on planned withdrawals for the current year. Among the documents attached to the email, the Excel file ‘wheat forecast 28.2.2019‘ indicates the planned withdrawal, as of 1.3.19, of 30 thousand tons of U.S. ND wheat, i.e. North Dakota, at an estimated cost of €282.71/t. Quite different from the U.S. DD wheat, Arizona’s Durum Desert , which costs €357/t instead. What about the California wheat? It does not even have a code, in De Cecco’s ERP system. California dreaming.
The complaint filed with the Latina NAS on 5/28/20, which had already been supplemented on 6/17/20, thus received further supplementation on 2/3/21. With request to forward also to PM Giuseppe Falasca and GIP Luca De Ninis. Serious and concordant clues show falsification of origin claims on labels of pasta made with thousands of tons of French and North Dakota wheat (in 2020) and semolina of unknown origin (in 2018-2019). Why then not check the accounts, including grain raw material inventories in De Cecco silos as of 2019, invoices from suppliers and logistics operators, and transport documents?
Serious threats to the whistleblower
The deep throat of the ‘Spaghetti Western Abruzzese‘ received in January 2020 and February 2021 two anonymous letters with serious threats. ‘Leave Don Filippo Antonio De Cecco alone or we will shoot you.’ (7)
‘Last warning’
, reads the second anonymous missive delivered in recent days to the whistleblower‘s home. Which we publish, together with the first one, to express closeness and solidarity with those who have made it possible to shed light on these dark events.
De Cecco and the Coldiretti magic circle.
Filippo Antonio De Cecco celebrated on 8.2.21 his joining the Filiera Italia foundation, the power group conceived by Coldiretti that brings together agribusiness giants-from B.F. SpA to Cirio Agricola, Farchioni, Inalca and Olitalia, SIS, F.lli Beretta, Rigamonti, Campari, etc. – With those of the services. From Intesa San Paolo to SNAM, Enel, Terna, and others. What better occasion, a week after our first article on fake Italian wheat, (2) to get the protection of Palazzo Rospigliosi?
Ettore Prandini visited Fara San Martino along with Luigi Scordamaglia, a former Federalimentare president converted to yellow flags. And the power of the magic circle immediately showed itself in a Coldiretti press release slavishly taken up by newspapers such as La Stampa and various other outlets. (8) Mass distraction from an allegation of agricultural commodity origin fraud that, if proven, will reach planetary historical precedence. (9)
#CleanSpades
‘Look this is a master company, it’s not the company where you’re used to working (…) so either you hang, as they say, your hat where (…) or later we’ll see who wins the war.’ (5)
In addition to the allegations of grain and semolina fraud, there is also the allegation of ideological misrepresentation by a private individual in a public act (Penal Code, Article 483), for statements made to the Antitrust Authority. And smoky tax transactions, among others, have already been established. (9)
A modicum of will suffices to bring order, also considering the possibility of a pactum sceleris. With confidence that justice will be administered on behalf of the people and judges will be subject only to the law, as the constituent fathers taught. (10)
#CleanSpades
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Alessandro Sallusti, Luca Palamara. The System. Power, Politics Business: Secret History Of The Italian Judiciary.. Rizzoli, Milan, 2021. ISBN 9788817157162. Former CSM president Giovanni Legnini is quoted on pages 23-25, 83, 125-126, 133, 137
(2) Dario Dongo. Spaghetti westerns in the Abruzzese style. Filippo Antonio De Cecco’s film, premiere. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.2.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/spaghetti-western-all-abruzzese-il-film-di-filippo-antonio-de-cecco-in-anteprima
(3) Watergate. The scandal affecting the president. Rai Cultura, https://www.raicultura.it/storia/articoli/2019/01/Il-Watergate-d5ca4636-46aa-4608-808e-5788595d2dbb.html
(4) Giovanni Lignini was a senator in three terms, a deputy for a short time, undersecretary to the Prime Minister’s Office under Enrico Letta and to the Economy for Matteo Renzi, and now extraordinary government commissioner for the reconstruction of the 2016-2017 earthquake-hit areas of central Italy. Read more on Wikipedia. https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Legnini
(5) Environmental registration cited in PEC 25.3.19 by lawyer Gianluca Crespi of the Milan Bar, representing a former executive of F.lli De Cecco SpA
(6) As a result of a labor judge’s petition for recusal by another former De Cecco manager, the Chieti Tribunal forwarded this and other news to the
Chieti Prosecutor’s Office. A clumsy attempt to do the laundry at home, in violation of rules that instead prescribe the jurisdiction of the Ancona prosecutor’s office to investigate magistrates in its Chieti Court of Appeals district
(7) The first missive associates the whistleblower with:
– Saturnino De Cecco, former CEO who resigned on 22.1.20 (along with the other CEO Giuseppe Aristide De Cecco, both shareholders) due to irreconcilable conflict with the management of President Filippo Antonio De Cecco (see article cited in footnote 2, last paragraph),
– ‘the Fattori gang,’ which Filippo Antonio De Cecco reported that he had ‘dismantled,’ at the 2019 Christmas dinner. On former CEO Francesco Fattori and internal disagreements at F.lli De Cecco SpA see also Emanuele Scarci’s article. De Cecco: out goes ad Francesco Fattori. All power passes to the family. Companies in the field. 6.5.19, https://aziendeincampo.wordpress.com/2019/05/06/de-cecco-revoca-lad-francesco-fattori-per-violazione-di-alcuni-obblighi-di-mandato/
(8) Food, De Cecco pasta factory joins Filiera Italia. The Press. 8.2.21, https://www.lastampa.it/economia/agricoltura/2021/02/08/news/alimentare-il-pastificio-de-cecco-aderisce-a-filiera-italia-1.39876542
(9) Antonio De Cecco, stories of pasta, stock market entries and dossiers. TV Shadow Zones. 11/20/20, https://www.zonedombratv.it/de-cecco-storie-di-pasta-ingressi-in-borsa-e-dossier/
(10) Constitution of the Italian Republic, Article 101.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
