“Ndrangheta has long been considered the most dangerous and powerful Italian mafia in the world and has capable of taking deep roots over the years not only in Italy, but in more than 30 foreign countries.
International investigators warn the ‘Ndrangheta mafia family now resembles a “criminal blockchain” following the recent decentralization of its internal power structures.
“Locals” open on all 5 continents claiming a monopoly of drug trafficking, is increasing ability to infiltrate the legal economic circuits, a turnover estimated by probable default to more than €55 billion: ‘Ndrangheta Spa is now a major worldwide alliance.
Usually, ‘Ndrangheta families in Canada take orders from “mother clans” in Calabria, but for the first time, mobsters outside of Siderno are making decisions that impact operations all the way back to Italy, reports National Post.
“The governing body of the Siderno branch no longer operates only in Calabria, transmitting orders abroad, but also does so directly on Canadian soil, to give it a more effective and efficient command structure,” said Italian authorities in court documents.
And it is precisely in this direction that the new project approved by Interpol, I-Can, International Cooperation against ndrangheta and Italy is ready to invest 4 and a half million euros in three years.
A sadly recognizable brand .
“Follow the money”, taught Giovanni Falcone And it is precisely by following the financial flows that investigators have managed to reconstruct the path that the ‘Ndrangheta has followed in recent years.
SPAIN According to the latest El Dia report, the Iberian country is the connecting link between the Calabrian clans and South American criminal organizations: rivers of cocaine and hashish arrive with huge amounts of money and are recycled.
Two years ago in Aguilas, in the community of Murcia, hooded men shot and killed a top member of the Nirta-Scalzone family.
In addition , the non-aggression pact between Calabrian ‘Ndrine, the Camorra clan, and the Cosa Nostra gangs to keep the drug price lower would be recent.
FRANCE The first presence of the ‘Ndrangheta across the Alps dates back to the 70s and there it continues to be a center of attraction for the clans: the Ventimiglia “locale” has always played the role of a “camera di passagio” in charge of operational and strategic coordination “.
The areas most exploited by Italian organized crime, which has reached the second generation, are located in the Alps region, in Provence and on the French Riviera, where the capital of illicit origin is reinvested and where the fugitives find refuge.
Many ‘Ndranghetists captured in France, among the last a member of the Barbaro-Papalia clan: he had opened a cleaning company for condominiums.
NETHERLANDS Another strategic crossroads for international drug trafficking are the port of Rotterdam: just over a year ago a joint Italian-Dutch operation hit the leather-Vottari, Romeo and Giorgi gangs of San Luca and Ietto- Cua di Natile: they had invested large sums of money in some restaurants that formed the basis of logistical support for coca trafficking from Latin America. In Holland the ‘Ndrangheta would also be involved in arms trafficking.
SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY Cells capable of faithfully reproducing the organizational scheme and modus operandi of the original partnerships, it is Germany that has historically attracted the expansionist aims of Mafia organizations of Italian origin: the ‘Ndrangheta, in particular, knew export your delinquent model, ‘cloning’ the structures of the territory of origin.
The massacre of Duisburg, twelve years ago, dramatically revealed to the world a reality that investigators already knew but in the following years the evidence of the existence of locals and hundreds of affiliates in different Landers multiplied and the strategies of drug trafficking were reconstructed , the recycling and reuse of illegal assets in the real estate and catering sector.
CANADA The first appearance of the ‘Ndrangheta in the country dates back to the 70s and already in the 90s the operational links between the Calabrian gangs (the so-called’ Siderno Group ‘) and the homologous associations established in the Toronto region had become evident. the latter have focused their interests on gambling, usury, extortion.
And the judicial recognition, symbolically important, of the existence of the ‘Ndrangheta’ arrived just less than a year ago, when the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sentenced a member of the Ursino family to 11 and a half years of imprisonment for trafficking in amazing.
Mexico drug cartels – increasingly divided into mini organizations – according to analysts of the Dia, have established “solid channels of connection with exponents of Calabrian, Campania and Sicilian crime”.
And, stressed the same national anti-mafia prosecutor, “they see in the ‘Ndrangheta a protagonist at their same level”.
COLOMBIA The same goes for the world’s largest cocaine producer, where the ‘Ndrangheta, “relying on a structured network of affiliates distributed on the main international ports, has proven to be able to keep in contact with local organizations for the management of large drug trafficking ”.
ARGENTINA AND VENEZUELA Territory of transit and storage of cocaine and, to a lesser extent, of marijuana and heroin and it is more than likely that the ‘Ndrine have assumed an increasingly important role precisely by virtue of the large credit acquired at the main drug trafficking signs.
BRAZIL AND AUSTRALIA Here there have been settlements of ‘ndrangheta for at least forty years, with gangs of the caliber of the Morabito, the Piromalli, the Commisso and the Pelle and the Maesano between Rio de Janeiro, San Paolo and Fortaleza.
In the country of kangaroos the ‘Ndrangheta is confirmed as the main Italian mafia organization present, with a series of murders dating back to the years between the two world wars.
Also in this case, the core business is represented by drug trafficking, but over time, interests have grown and consolidated in the sectors of transport, construction, catering and agriculture.
Among the most active groups, with roots in all States, the Papalia-Sergi-Barbaro, the Alvaro and the Giorgi-Morabito-Barbaro.
AUSTRIA AND ROMANIA In these countries increasingly consistent traces of the presence of ‘Ndrine have been detected in recent times in (where the interest of the gangs seems to be strong especially for illegal gaming) and the appeal of the Slovak Republic is also growing: investigations on the murder of the reporter Jan Kuciak, which took place in Bratislava in February 2018, they revealed the appetites of the gangs for the European funds for agriculture, assigned in that state.
Appetites confirmed also with the arrests, carried out as part of the “Picciotteria 2” operation, of subjects connected to the gangs of Africo and Bova Marina.
MALTA AND USA among the various mafia organizations, the ‘Ndrangheta is undoubtedly the one that appears most avant-garde in exploiting the opportunities offered by the illegal betting sector, as demonstrated by the various operations conducted in recent years.
In the United States, the ‘Ndrangheta has recently consolidated as a referent for the South American drug trafficking cartels: the Calabrian organized crime families, in particular those originating from Locride, would be expanding especially in the state of New York and Florida.
UNITED KINGDOM AND BELGIUM The particular Anglo-Saxon legislation that allows the easy creation of companies has long made the United Kingdom a privileged location for financial activities, also by criminal groups: at the beginning of 2018 a ‘Ndranghetista organization dedicated to recycling and self-laundering.
We must now see if Brexit can change things. The various anti-drug operations carried out in the port area of Gioia Tauro, which has always been one of the privileged ports for the entry of drugs into Europe, have pushed the ‘Ndrangheta towards a strategy of delocalization of the arrival points of drugs from South America and Belgium, especially Antwerp.
Areas such as those of Mons-Charleroi, Hainaut and Liège have gradually been characterized by the stable presence of exponents of the ‘Ndrangheta, who have used these territories to start new criminal activities: documented, in at least one case, also payments in bitcoin.