Lewes senator addresses 2016 extortion case

Italian man indicted on 17 charges last year

By Craig Anderson
Posted 5/2/22

LEWES — Sen. Ernie López, a Lewes Republican, lauded investigators Thursday for their pursuit of a man who allegedly attempted to extort him in 2016.

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Lewes senator addresses 2016 extortion case

Italian man indicted on 17 charges last year

Posted

LEWES — Sen. Ernie López, a Lewes Republican, lauded investigators Thursday for their pursuit of a man who allegedly attempted to extort him in 2016.

Sen. López released the statement last week after a 2021 indictment against Alessandro Calcagni, an Italian citizen, was unsealed in federal court. The extortion count involving Sen. López was one of 17 charges that also involved nationwide bomb threats to airlines and schools, the indictment said.

On Monday, U.S. District Court spokeswoman Kim Reeves said Mr. Calcagni remains in Italy after a court there denied an extradition request by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She added that his custody status is uncertain, but the case remains open.

Ms. Reeves declined further comment beyond the publicly available indictment; Sen. López’s spokesman Matt Revel said nothing more would be provided beyond the legislator’s news release.

Though Sen. López is not named in the indictment, his statement specifically addressed the Calcagni case, saying “the public can now be rest assured that the perpetrator has been found.”

He stressed that “we especially wish to thank local, state and federal law enforcement officials for not allowing the search for Mr. Calcagni to go cold.”

Noting that the 2016 stretch of repeated bomb threats to schools in Delaware and throughout the region, “caused fear, disruption and trauma,” Sen. López said he “publicly stated to the unknown perpetrators (at the time) that ‘We will find you.’”

The indictment referenced a TV interview Sen. López gave in January 2016 and the recap posted online with the headline, “López: Cowards making bomb threats will be caught.”

According to the indictment, an unindicted co-conspirator saved a copy of the article on a laptop. Also on the computer was information about Sen. López’s family, including mail and email addresses, plus phone numbers.

The alleged extortion attempt, the indictment reported, came in September 2016, when Mr. Calcagni “knowingly and with intent to extort a thing of value to the defendant — to wit, Bitcoin — from (Sen. López) did transmit in interstate and foreign commerce, using the Internet and telephone services, a threatening communication to an individual he believed to be (Sen. López), containing a threat to kidnap, injure, and murder the family of (Sen. López).”

In addition, twice in January 2016, according to authorities, “police received calls where the caller stated that he was holding individuals hostage at a residence associated with (Sen. López).”

“Both calls caused an emergency police response to that location. Recordings of both (calls) were found on unindicted co-conspirator’s laptop.”

The threats were described as “swatting” or “an act of harassing a victim by triggering a police response to that person’s location based on a false report of an emergency — such as a bomb threat, murder, or other violent act.”

Also, according to documents, Sen. López and others received threatening emails that demanded payment in bitcoin.

“Drafts of some of these emails and log-in information for some of the email addresses from which they were sent were found on unindicted co-conspirators laptop,” the indictment alleged.

The indictment also said that, on two dates in August and September 2016, four packages were sent to the senator and three family members. They appeared to originate from Europe and Canada and contained small amounts of illicit drugs, including MDMA, THC and heroin.

Also in the packages were a small knife and fake credit cards. Receipts for the packages were found on the unindicted co-conspirator’s laptop, authorities said.

The indictment went on to allege that Mr. Calcagni made a phone call in September 2016 from outside the United States, and “Alessandro Calcagni addressed the person who answered the phone using (Sen. López’s) first name, and threatened to ‘kidnap (Sen. López) and kill them in my basement if you don’t pay me two Bitcoin.”

Additionally, Mr. Calcagni claimed, “I know you are reading my emails.”

Other charges against the suspect included conspiracy, school bomb threat (four counts), airline bomb threat (five counts) and conveying false information about bombs on airlines (six counts).

Sen. López has served in the Delaware General Assembly since 2012. He is not seeking reelection this November.

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