Carried out the investigation into the disappearance of Kataleya Alvarez , the little girl who lived in the former occupied Astor hotel in Florence of which there has been no trace since last June 10th.
Four people - all Peruvian - ended up in prison for the rent racket in the structure, which was cleared after the events, and among these there is also the maternal uncle of little Kata, the last to have seen the child before she disappeared according to what was rebuilt.
The arrests concern charges of extortion, attempted extortion and robbery, threats, but also attempted murder and serious injuries, between November 2022 and May 2023, against other occupants of the building.
According to the investigators, the four asked for a "bribe" of 600 to 700 euros from the other occupants of the former hotel . The pre-trial detention order also reconstructs an episode of last May 28, when the 4 arrested men threatened and beat a Peruvian compatriot couple with a baseball bat who was occupying the room and refusing to pay the "rent", and then also committed violence against others who were in the next room. Here a man, fearing being killed, threw himself into the void from the window and was seriously injured .
The carabinieri also carried out a dozen searches of other Peruvians, including the parents of little Kata .
The arrests, even if not directly attributable to the disappearance of Kata, fall within the same line of investigation of the girl who is presumed to have been kidnapped on 10 June . The track beaten by the investigators to find the little girl is in fact precisely that of the rental racket .
(Unioneonline/L)