The prosecution in the case of former police inspector David Gatt, who allegedly likened himself to Sicilian “boss of all bosses” Toto Riina, will be trying to prove he helped organise four major hold-ups over the past three years.
The police believed he not only knew about the hold-ups before they took place but was involved in planning them, sources close to the police said.
The 40-year-old, who graduated as a lawyer after he was dismissed from the police force, was charged on Tuesday with complicity in a string of heists over the past three years. The latest is Friday’s attempted hold-up on a jeweller outside his Attard home.
The list includes the June 30 failed theft at the HSBC headquarters in Qormi that ended in a shootout with the police; the failed attempt to break into a security van carrying an estimated €2.8 million in cash in Qormi last January; and the hold-up on the HSBC Balzan branch, in which robbers made off with almost €1.1 million on November 30, 2007.
It was alleged on his arraignment, Dr Gatt helped Fabio Psaila – one of the suspects still wanted for Friday’s failed hold-up – flee the police.
He was also accused of having helped Darren Debono seek medical help after he was shot by police in the HSBC headquarters shootout and of trying to prevent John Zammit Montebello, a medical doctor, from alerting the police after he had examined the injured Mr Debono.
The sources said the case against Dr Gatt did not stop with the element of obstruction of justice but included his alleged part in the organisation of the major crimes.
After Dr Gatt pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him, the prosecution objected to bail being granted, arguing he could tamper with the evidence.
Police Inspector Joseph Mercieca, on the prosecution team, said: “Just to give you an idea, he went around comparing himself to the capo dei capi (boss of all bosses) Toto Riina (a ruthless Sicilian Mafia boss).”
The former inspector of 12 years was only recently in the news after an appeals court ruled in September he and another two men – Michael Buttigieg and Ivan Portelli – had been unfairly dismissed by the force in 2001 over allegations they had links with criminals.
In an interview after the ruling, the three men called for Police Commissioner John Rizzo to resign, adding they were considering suing for damages.
Both the Police Commissioner and the government insisted on their decision, stressing there had been valid grounds for the officers’ dismissal.
Excerpts from tapped conversations allegedly between the three former officers and suspected criminals were later published.
In one such conversation – which Mr Rizzo, then Assistant Police Commissioner, stumbled upon when tapping the phones of suspects in a heist – one of the callers, allegedly one of the ex-officers, opens the dialogue asking whether the alleged robber was “all right” and urging the person on the other end not to call him on that particular phone number.
They continue talking and the suspect speaks about the previous day. When the heist in question – the €2.33 million hold-up on Group 4 security – had taken place in 2000 there had been a police raid followed by a car chase. In the conversation, the suspect speaks about “some 14 cars”, and the alleged former officer replies: “Hadn’t I told you before?”
The courts had thrown out the evidence because the police failed to produce a warrant they required by law before tapping any conversation.