A large network of personal and confidential information trafficking has emerged from an investigation conducted by the Milan District Anti-Mafia Directorate and the National Anti-Mafia Directorate. The information was illegally extracted from strategic databases for Italy, with the intervention of former members of the police force, IT technicians and hackers. This data was then sold to clients in the business sector, used not only for business purposes but also for private matters. Among the protagonists of the investigation is Carmine Gallo, a former police officer and CEO of Equalize, a private investigation company linked to the president of the Fondazione Fiera Milano, Enrico Pazzali, who is now also under investigation along with other partners of Equalize.

Judge Fabrizio Filice ordered house arrest for Gallo and issued a suspension from service order for a financier and a police officer. The assets of the companies Mercury Advisor srls and Develope and Go srls were also seized. The charges against approximately sixty people include criminal association for the purpose of unauthorized access to computer systems, corruption, disclosure of official secrets, unauthorized wiretapping and aiding and abetting.

The compromised databases belong to law enforcement agencies, the Revenue Agency and the Bank of Italy. The judge rejected some precautionary requests made by the public prosecutor Francesco De Tommasi but accepted the investigators' investigative approach. The investigations revealed that several individuals were aware of the illicit activities related to the “alarming” data traffic that saw the leak of thousands of information in a couple of years. This data was often presented in altered reports to appear legitimate.

Among the suspects is Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, accused of having sought information on his family regarding inheritance matters and on his girlfriend Jessica Michel Serfaty. Matteo Arpe and his brother Fabio are also involved in the investigation for unauthorized access to the systems of the Banco Bpm branch in Alessandria; Arpe says he is surprised by the accusation since it concerns a private matter related to his family.

In addition to the suspects, there are important figures such as Fabio Candeli, CEO of Banca Profilo, Fulvio Pravadelli of the former Publitalia and other managers of the Erg and Barilla groups. The data collected included information on employees suspected of insider trading or who allegedly provided confidential information to the media.

The techniques used to gather this information included illegally acquiring phone records, locating cell phones using outside IT experts, and abusively intercepting digital communications such as WhatsApp chats and emails. Innocent people like Daniela Santanchè were implicated for no apparent reason.

The dossier also targeted exponents of the economic-financial world such as Paolo Scaroni and Giovanni Gorno Tempini: their data would have been the object of interest through