Operation Ricostruzione: non-genuine subcontracting, nominee owners and anti-mafia rules bypassed on the 2016 earthquake reconstruction sites

In short: on 22 October 2026 the Guardia di Finanza of Ancona, under the authority of the Anti-Mafia District Directorate [DDA], executed an order of the GIP [preliminary investigations judge] of Ancona with 8 pre-trial detention orders in prison, the preventive seizure of 3 companies and seizures for over 57 million euros. According to the prosecution, a contractor in the private post-earthquake 2016 reconstruction subcontracted labour to companies registered in the names of nominee owners, linked to persons who were not allowed to work on the reconstruction sites. For anyone awarding a subcontract, this is a textbook case: the companies were registered in the Anti-Mafia Register of Executing Firms [Anagrafe antimafia degli esecutori].

What happened?

The order is dated 12 October 2026 and was executed in the provinces of Ancona, Macerata, Pesaro-Urbino, Fermo, Rome, Caserta, Naples, Reggio Calabria, Modena, Terni, Chieti, Treviso and Piacenza. In addition to the 8 pre-trial detention orders in prison, the GIP ordered a preventive interrogation for 5 other suspects. More than 50 searches and document acquisitions were carried out, at public officials, public bodies, professionals and entrepreneurs.

The suspects are 51 individuals and 17 companies have been identified. The proceedings are in the preliminary investigation phase, the measures can be challenged, and under the presumption of innocence liability will be established only by a final conviction.

How the subcontracting scheme worked, according to the prosecution

The central strand concerns private reconstruction in the Marche region. The press release describes a contractor whose workforce was incompatible with the number of contracts it had won, and which had achieved a «monopolistic» position in the sector by systematically resorting to subcontracting of labour. The subcontractors were of two types:

• companies of an operator that would not have been able to work in the crater area because its companies were in judicial liquidation [liquidazione giudiziale] with large debts owed to the tax authorities: the assets passed to new solvent companies registered in the names of nominee owners, which succeeded one another, inheriting the same assets;
• companies registered in the names of nominee owners but linked, according to the prosecution, to persons close to the Casalesi clan, already hit by anti-mafia exclusion orders [interdittive antimafia].

The use of nominee owners allowed the companies to obtain registration in the Anti-Mafia Register of Executing Firms [Anagrafe antimafia degli esecutori] provided for by art. 31, paragraph 6, of Legislative Decree 189/2016, bypassing the anti-mafia safeguards of the reconstruction. For this reason the GIP found aggravated fraud to obtain public funds (art. 640-bis of the Criminal Code) and, for six companies, fraudulent transfer of assets (art. 512-bis of the Criminal Code), with the aggravating circumstance of mafia-type facilitation.

A second mechanism concerns false invoices: the companies of one of the subcontractors allegedly issued invoices for about 8 million euros, which were paid and then returned in cash.

The figures

Item	Amount
Private reconstruction contracts with undue allocation of public resources	about 200 million euros
Contractor's profit (the "SAL 0" advance, equal to 20% of the contracts)	about 39 million euros
Profit of the subcontracting companies	about 18 million euros
Preventive seizure for aggravated fraud	€56,802,639.57
Seizure for corruption, against two entrepreneurs	€257,200
Public tenders affected by the corruption strand	over 150 million euros

The "SAL 0" is the advance of 20% of the value of the contract which, in private reconstruction, is collected simply by setting up the site.

And the public tenders?

A third strand concerns alleged bribery in procedures of the Marche Region, ERDIS Marche and the University of Camerino, including the purchase and renovation of a former monastery to be converted into student housing, the renovation of a former military building in Ancona, the accreditation of a residential care facility [RSA], the extension of a multi-service healthcare contract until 2037, and the award of the energy service of the Torrette Hospital. The press release specifies that three of these procedures were not completed. For the procedures of the University of Camerino, the GIP declared itself territorially incompetent.

What to do before awarding a subcontract

• Compare the structure with the contracts: a company that wins many contracts without the workforce to carry them out, or that subcontracts almost everything, is the first warning sign described in the press release.
• Look at the company's history, not just the certificate: the registration in the Anti-Mafia Register was in place. What matters is the date of incorporation, changes of shareholders and directors, the registered office, and whether the company took over from a previous one with the same resources.
• Look for related insolvency proceedings: in the scheme, the original companies were in judicial liquidation and the new ones inherited their assets.
• Check who is really behind the subcontractor and whether the same persons appear in other companies.

You can see a company's protests and insolvency proceedings, with source and date, in the protests and insolvency proceedings check (€5.90). Before signing a subcontract or joining a temporary business association [ATI], the insolvency proceedings plus beneficial owner check (€14.90) also shows the individuals holding office or a significant stake.

Sources

• Guardia di Finanza, «Operazione Ricostruzione - Truffa aggravata negli appalti per la ricostruzione privata post sisma», press release of 22 October 2026, accessed 24/10/2026