Carabinieri Seize €600,000 Tied to Alleged Mafia Betting Network
Italian police have seized assets linked to an alleged Sacra Corona Unita lieutenant accused of running a clandestine sports betting operation from a bar in Puglia.
Italian anti-mafia police have seized at least €600,000 in assets connected to a man accused of acting as a lieutenant in the Sacra Corona Unita, the organised crime group based in Puglia, southern Italy, according to Casino.org News.
Tobia Parisi, 45, was officially registered as a farm labourer, but investigators say his actual holdings told a different story: a luxury apartment, a car dealership, a villa once used to shelter a fugitive mob boss, and a bar allegedly serving as the operational base for an illegal betting network.
The Carabinieri carried out the seizure on Wednesday after a court in Lecce granted the order at the request of anti-mafia prosecutors. Parisi is accused of holding a senior position within the group's Mesagne faction, reporting to mafia boss Daniele Vicientino.
Investigators identify the Free Time Lounge Bar in Mesagne, near Brindisi, as the centre of the alleged scheme. The premises, covering roughly 10,800 square feet, is said to have functioned both as a logistical hub for the clan and as a control point for clandestine sports betting.
The confiscation order also covered a car sales business in nearby Carovigno, along with its vehicle stock, which police say Parisi ran through a front person. A luxury apartment in Brindisi, registered to his partner and allegedly bought with illicit funds, was also seized.
In the countryside around Torre Santa Susanna, authorities located a villa they say had previously been used to hide Vicientino while he was wanted by police. Cars, bank accounts, savings deposits and prepaid cards tied to Parisi and his family were included in the seizure.
The financial inquiry grew out of a police operation on 15 December 2025 targeting the Pasimeni-Vitale-Vicientino clan, whose alleged criminal interests are said to stretch well beyond illegal gambling into drug trafficking, extortion and loan-sharking.
The Sacra Corona Unita first emerged in Puglia in the early 1980s, building its early criminal activity around smuggling and drug trafficking before moving into gambling markets, Casino.org News reports.
Investigators say their review of Parisi's background uncovered more than 25 years of alleged criminal conduct, and that financial checks exposed a marked gap between the family's declared income and the value of its assets.
Authorities framed the action as part of a wider strategy to strip mafia organisations of wealth accumulated through illegal enterprises, including clandestine betting operations run outside Italy's licensed gambling framework.