With the use of innovative investigative methodologies, the postal and telecommunications police, coordinated by the procuration of the republic at the Rome court, identified 15 subjects all responsible for disclosure and production of pedophile material, in an operation called "Sleeping dogs ". The name of the operation gets its name from the video game that allowed the subagent agent to get in touch, through a chat, with the first subject, and with the excuse to get past the "tricks" to proceed at various levels, l 'agent has managed to open an elective communication path with the subject in question.
The investigation, which started in the 2011, is still in progress. From network monitoring, starting with 2010, it emerged that "darknet" became more and more the virtual site where the presumption of anonymity seemed to be effective for those who wanted to be a criminal, with a slow but progressive migration of minors abusers and pedophiles on these platforms.
Explanations on the results of the Sleeping Dogs operation were provided during a conference at the external and ceremonial relations office of the public security department in Piazza del Viminale in Rome. Speakers: the director of the postal police Antonio Apruzzese, Dr. Carlo Solimene, director of the investigative division of the postal police, Dr. Elvira D'Amato, deputy superintendent, officer of the postal police and communications service responsible for the operational coordination of investigations of pedophilia on the Net, the special agent Jason Fickett, head of the FBI office in Italy and the deputy prosecutor of the public prosecutor Maria Monteleone.
Outbreaks of the Sleeping Dog operation There is no real identikit of those who commits crimes of pedophilia, either by age or by social status. The subjects identified are 15 Italian adult males, of whom 10 are in stand-by, with the age of 24 and 63 years (middle-aged 45 years), largely celibate, four married couples, two separated with children. 10 arrested there are bank employees, freelancers, skilled workers, mainly from North and Central Italy (Lazio). Some subjects have been in the past accused of abuse and mistreatment in the family and detention of pedo-pornographic material. Recent sexual abuse was photographed and photographed on three Italian minors aged 5 and 10 years. The images have been shared but the children, located and saved, are currently safe with their families. Only one of the arrested abusers was related to the small victim. For the accused, three final convictions have been obtained at 5 years and 7 months, 5 years and nine months and 7 years.
Undercover and Dark web Undercover are specialized operators operating within the CNCPO, the National Center for the Fight against On-line Child Pornography, of the Postal Police and Telecommunications Service. In addition to monitoring the web, the Center also has the task of collecting reports from various parts: from foreign police bodies as well as from public and private entities, as well as from network service managers. update the techniques to operate undercover, and are particularly active on the new front of investigation, focused on the use of complex navigation systems, first of all the so-called "Tor" networks, which concern the use of alternative networks and deep web as "deepweb". The police manage to enter these channels undetectable by normal search engines, channels not in the clear, hence the name of "Darknet" or "Deepweb", the secret and dark side of the internet. Visibility is usually sought in the network, while in the case of the Darknet, instead, the site is made invisible and cannot be found by search engines. The "darknets" are the new circuits of the network, closest to the real producers of child pornography, or to subjects who abuse small victims and use their "bargaining chips" as a multiplier effect of new abuses on commission.
International collaboration Since 1998, law no. 269 allows postal police investigators, on an exclusive basis, to enter the web in disguise, and assume cover identities to unhinge the pedophile crime circuits. The technological and criminal challenge of the pedo-communities has been taken up, also at an international level, by the police, who have coalesced on a global level under the aegis of Europol, in the context of the constant and wider Europe-USA dialogue. . Constant dialogue with FBI colleagues, with the sharing of highly operational common operating platforms. For many years, the FBI has launched initiatives open to law enforcement agencies from any country, for the purpose of combating pedophilia online. There are several investigations still underway in the United States not yet completed.
The Sleeping Dog operation, coordinated by the Assistant Prosecutor, Dr. Maria Monteleone, and the deputy prosecutor, Dr. Eugenio Albamonte, of the prosecution of the Republic of Rome, immediately took over the transnational nature of investigations, enhancing investigative measures both on the front on the side of the international judicial and police cooperation.
Monica Palermo
