ROME -- Two men have been arrested in Palermo with a chain of well-known ice cream shops suspected of using profits to support mafia activity. Six people in total are under investigation, Palermo’s anti-mafia division of the Public Prosecutor has said.

 According to Il Fatto Quotidiano, Michele Micalizzi, 75, and Mario Mancuso, 44, were heavily involved in the management of the ice cream shop chain Brioscià, one of Palermo’s most popular gelaterias. Micalizzi and Mancuso have been arrested on suspicion of fraudulent financial activity, fraudulent bankruptcy, mafia complicity and mafia-linked extorsion. The prosecution, led by Maurizio De Lucia, has also seized over 1.5 million euros.

 Micalizzi is one of Sicily’s most prolific mafia figures within the Cosa Nostra mafia organisation and spent 21 years in prison after being convicted with murder. After being released in 2015, he allegedly returned to mafia activity within the Partanna Mondello mafia group and was arrested again last July.

 Il Fatto Quotidiano has reported that Micalizzi allegedly exercised a controlling power over the Brioscià ice cream chain with Mancuso, the owner of the chain, complicit in mafia activity. According to investigators, Mancuso allowed Micalizzi to benefit from profits, with the mafia figure using the money generated to boost criminal activity and support the families of mafia individuals that had been detained. The financial mismanagement of the ice cream chain caused it to go bankrupt in 2021 but was relaunched under the name of Sharbat.

 Four other people, along with Micalizzi and Mancuso, are under investigation by Palermo’s anti-mafia division of the Public Prosecutor, with searches being carried out in the properties of all six individuals.

 bq