DETAJE SPAK strikes criminal group in collaboration with Bar's anti-mafian, 10 people arrested

The measures concern individuals believed to be involved, both in the 26-year-old murder of Barletta, Francesco Divienst, and in an alleged money laundering network between Italy and Albania. According to the findings, one of the suspects has been placed in house arrest, three in charge of presentation, and the others have been sent to prison.

Investigators are rebuilding ties, roles and responsibilities within an organisation allegedly operating steadily between the two Adriatic coasts.

The investigation was conducted by the Anti-Mafia Directorate of Bari and Andria Police Flight Staff, with support from the SPAK and the Security Experts Office in Tirana. At the centre of the investigation is a headquarters-organised group in the Albanian capital and active in the illegal transfer of money from Italy to Albania.

The investigation was conducted by a Joint Investigative Team co-ordinated by Eurojust, a European agency promoting international judicial co-operation. The investigations also linked the alleged money laundering scheme to developments in the investigation into the murder of Divienst, which took place in Canosa di Puglia on 25 April 2025.

Francesco Diviensti, a 26-year-old pal of Barletta, disappeared on the evening of April 25, 2025, after leaving his house about 8:30 p.m. The last available images for the investigation showed him several hours later inside the barbershop where he worked with his father, shop security cameras caught him entering the shop and leaving his scooter.

From that moment on, the young man disappeared completely. For days, family and friends began public appeals as police officers intensified their research throughout the area.

On April 29th, history ended in the most dramatic way: the 26-year-old body, which was half burned, was found by Carabiniers in a ruins in the village between Canosa di Puglia and Minervino monk, in the neighbourhood “Femmin morta”. / TCh/