Camorra - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-28T13:54:03Z
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Religious paintings donated by infamous Camorra Mafia boss ordered removed by Naples archbishop
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/religious-paintings-donated-by-infamous-camorra-mafia-boss-ordere
2021-04-01T16:00:00.000Z
2021-04-01T16:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/religious-paintings-donated-by-infamous-camorra-mafia-boss-ordere" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237162673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237162673?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Thanks, but no thanks. Two religious paintings donated by an infamous Camorra Mafia boss were removed from a church last week on orders of the archbishop. The move occurs not long after Pope Francis loudly condemned Italy’s crime clans and those who supported them and their use of religious acts to justify their crimes.</p>
<p>“Those who follow the path of evil, like the Mafiosi do, are not in communion with God; they are excommunicated,” Pope Francis <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-mafia/pope-lambasts-mobsters-says-mafiosi-are-excommunicated-idUSKBN0EW0FN20140621" target="_blank">said</a> at a mass before hundreds of thousands of people in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Calabria" target="_blank">Calabria</a> in 2014. “This evil must be fought against, it must be pushed aside. We must say no to it.”</p>
<p>He added that the Church would get serious in its efforts to combat the various Mafia groups. Last month, he again lambasted the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> for its involvement in taking advantage of the pandemic through corruption and its criminal infrastructure.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>WATCH: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-mafia-takes-advantage-of-opportunities-created-by-covid-1" target="_blank">Camorra Mafia takes advantage</a> of opportunities created by COVID-19</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>On Wednesday, Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples said in a <a href="https://catholicreview.org/naples-archbishop-orders-removal-of-paintings-donated-by-mafia-boss/" target="_blank">statement</a> that he was “recently made aware” of two paintings placed at the entrance of a church in the archdiocese with an inscription that read, “In devotion of Lorenzo Nuvoletta.”</p>
<p>Nuvoletta was the leader of one of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a>’s most powerful clans as well as an official member of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview" target="_blank">Cosa Nostra</a>, the Sicilian Mafia. He was arrested in 1990 and died of cancer in 1994 while under house arrest.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>IN PICTURES:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/in-pictures-scampia-neighborhood-made-famous-by-tv-series-gomorra" target="_blank"><strong>Scampia neighborhood made famous by TV series Gomorra to be demolished</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The archbishop, who was appointed by Pope Francis, then ordered the removal of the paintings, one of which depicted Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii and the other St. Rita, to avoid confusing the faithful “with actions that could even remotely be traced back to an ambiguity between the Gospel and life.”</p>
<p>The paintings will be replaced with different images of Our Lady of Pompeii and St. Rita “so that faith may continue to walk with the hearts and legs of those who nourish these healthy devotions,” the statement read.</p>
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Camorra Mafia takes advantage of opportunities created by COVID-19
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-mafia-takes-advantage-of-opportunities-created-by-covid-1
2020-10-24T08:45:02.000Z
2020-10-24T08:45:02.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-mafia-takes-advantage-of-opportunities-created-by-covid-1" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237147497,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237147497?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>The thing about operating outside the rules of the law is that you can always find ways to make money. Case in point: The Italian <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a>. When the corona pandemic hit it sent much of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime" target="_blank">Italy</a> into a lockdown. Many businesses went bust as a result. The Camorra, however, was eyeing multiple fresh opportunities, as VICE News reports in the video below.</p>
<p>VICE News traveled to Naples, Italy, to report about the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a>’s actions and how the Italian government continues to drop the ball when it comes to keeping organized crime down.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IsNN6d_5oJ8?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
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IN PICTURES: Scampia neighborhood made famous by TV series Gomorra to be demolished
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/in-pictures-scampia-neighborhood-made-famous-by-tv-series-gomorra
2020-02-22T12:53:54.000Z
2020-02-22T12:53:54.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/in-pictures-scampia-neighborhood-made-famous-by-tv-series-gomorra" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149673?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>The Sails of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scampia" target="_blank">Scampia</a> (<em>Vele di Scampia</em>) in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Naples" target="_blank">Naples</a>, Italy, are coming down. Demolition of three of the buildings that have become the epitome of poverty and crime began on Thursday. The Scampia neighborhood is dominated by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra" target="_blank">Camorra</a> and is one of the biggest <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug</a> markets in Italy. Then, in its final years, it became famous thanks to the critically acclaimed hit tv show <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gomorra" target="_blank">Gomorra</a>.</p>
<p>Created by architect Francesco di Salvo and built in the 1960s up until 1980, they had planned a bright future for “le Vele” like city builders had done for so many other affordable urban housing projects around the world. Likewise, the plans never quite came to fruition in Scampia either. Rampant corruption and an influx of poor squatters made the buildings a perfect breeding ground for <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime" target="_blank">organized crime</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237150290,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237150290?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Camorra clans fight over Scampia</strong></span></p>
<p>In Scampia, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a> boss Paolo di Lauro ruled supreme. His troops moved tons of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> through “le Vele” and made untold millions, while the place continued to break down. Despite its squalor appearance, it was an area worth dying for.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149900,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149900?profile=original" /></a>In 2004 and into 2005, the Di Lauro clan fought a fierce battle against a separatist clan, aptly labeled the “scissionisti” or “secessionists”, led by Raffaele Amato. While the war raged, and over 130 people were slaughtered, Amato fled to Spain, earning his group the derogatory nickname “Spaniards” in Scampia.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/naples-camorra-mafia-boss-marco-di-lauro-s-days-as-a-super-fugiti" target="_blank"><strong>Camorra boss Marco Di Lauro’s days as a fugitive come to an end</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Paolo di Lauro was arrested in a simple apartment in the Secondigliano neighborhood of Naples in September of 2005. He received a 30-year prison sentence for narcotics trafficking.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237150896,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237150896?profile=original" /></a>Raffaele Amato was arrested while leaving a casino in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Barcelona" target="_blank">Barcelona</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a>, in February of 2005. He was extradited to Italy and eventually sentenced in 2010 to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering, and various other charges.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Gomorra brings the (in)fame</strong></span></p>
<p>Italian journalist <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Saviano" target="_blank">Roberto Saviano</a> detailed the Camorra war over Scampia in his outstanding book Gomorra (Gomorrah), published in 2006. Due to his writings, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra" target="_blank">Camorra</a> put a murder contract on his life. Saviano has been in hiding and under constant state protection ever since.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: "Camorra dei bimbi" -</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fugitive-camorra-boss-pasquale-sibillo-captured" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Camorra boss Pasquale Sibillo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>His book was turned into a motion picture in 2008, followed by a television series in 2014. All titled Gomorra, both offer a raw look inside Scampia, with much of the filming during both projects done on location.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237152284,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237152284?profile=original" /></a>The photos shown here were posted on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/salvatoreesposito/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> by actor <a href="https://www.instagram.com/salvatoreesposito/" target="_blank">Salvatore Esposito</a>, who plays Gennaro, the son of Camorra boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Savastano" target="_blank">Pietro Savastano</a>. The Savastanos are loosely based on Paolo di Lauro and his <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/naples-camorra-mafia-boss-marco-di-lauro-s-days-as-a-super-fugiti" target="_blank">sons</a>, who followed in his footsteps.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237152853,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237152853?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Dignity</strong></span></p>
<p>Only one of the four buildings that are part of “le Vele” will remain standing. This building will be renovated. “I lived in one of these buildings in Scampia for 20 years and, believe me, we had enough of all the people who slandered us, saying we were the inhabitants of Gomorrah,” Lorenzo Liparulo, one of the leaders of the residents’ association, told newspaper <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/scampia-residents-mourn-homes-as-razing-of-gomorrah-begins" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. “There are people here who lived with dignity, despite everything.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237152677,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237152677?profile=original" /></a></p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
‘Ndrangheta in Greater Toronto Area hit but still too powerful – “There are 9 (Mafia clans) of us”
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-in-greater-toronto-area-canada-hit-but-still-too-power
2019-08-05T15:17:02.000Z
2019-08-05T15:17:02.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-in-greater-toronto-area-canada-hit-but-still-too-power" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237130893,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237130893?profile=original" /></a>By Andrew Machin</p>
<p>On June 2, 2015, with the arrest of 19 people, the two year-long code-named Project OPhoenix closed. The Project, conducted by the Combined Special Forces Enforcement Unit for the Great Toronto Area (GTA), significantly hit, resuming the words, during its presentation, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Supt. Keith Finn, “two key cells of the 'Ndrangheta” in GTA of which a sufficiently appropriate definition was given: “The ‘Ndrangheta is a specific confederation of Mafia families that originated in southern Calabria, Italy, and has since spread to various international regions, including Canada”.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Infiltration of the ‘Ndrangheta</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131084,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131084?profile=original" /></a>An undoubted success even more so for the ability of the Unit to have been able to manage an infiltrated turncoat for the entire duration of the investigation. The extremely dangerous job of this man allowed, in 2019, at the end of the relative judicial proceedings, to have <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi" target="_blank">Giuseppe "Pino" Ursino</a> (left), 65, of Bradford, one of the ninety pieces of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a> in GTA, sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison, together with his associate Cosmin Dracea, 42, of Toronto (10 years), both for trafficking <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> and conspiracy to import cocaine related to a criminal organization.</p>
<p>Previously (Jan. 2018), longtime cocaine trafficker Diego Serrano, 69, of Vaughan, had already been sentenced to four years, six months. The Project identified him as a “significant facilitator” for the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a>, a qualification that however was not sufficient to deserve the aggravating circumstances related to belonging or relations to a criminal organization.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “The Mafia defines who he is” – Profile of Toronto</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi" target="_blank"><strong>‘Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe “Pino” Ursino</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>In any case, on March 14, 2017, the attempted murder of one of his sons, Saverio, 42, injured but alive unlike his girlfriend, Mila Barbieri, 28, shot to death while they were together inside a parked car in Vaughan, foreshadowed involvement in very rough games (thanks to some relevant video surveillance images and wiretaps, police are convinced that they have identified the hired <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hitman" target="_blank">hitman</a> of this homicidal action and two of his accomplices, all of whom were from Hamilton, the same ones who would have murdered also <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/hamilton-mobster-angelo-musitano-shot-dead-in-front-of-home" target="_blank">Angelo Musitano</a>, brother of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hamilton" target="_blank">Hamilton</a> mob boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/home-of-hamilton-mobster-pat-musitano-riddled-with-bullets" target="_blank">Pat Musitano</a>, on May 2, 2017, but not yet the relative instigators).</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The 7 “locali” that make the “Crimine” of Toronto’s ‘Ndrangheta</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131498,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131498?profile=original" /></a>So, we repeat, a successful investigation, but certainly partial, considering that only two of the probably seven Locali (crime families belonging to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-overview" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a>; Locale, in the singular) that make up the Crimine of Toronto (title of a peripheral governing body whose possession means the formal recognition by the superordinate Crimine located in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-overview" target="_blank">Calabria</a>), were affected. A proportion that then had to be reduced, compared to the nine Locali present in the entire <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ontario" target="_blank">Ontario</a>. This latter number to consider certain thanks to a fundamental secret recording of a phrase contained in the Italian Project Crimine (2010), “In Toronto [to be understood as Ontario] there are nine of us…”, recorded in 2009 during a visit of Rocco Etreni, high rank of the Locale of Thunder Bay, to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Commisso" target="_blank">Giuseppe "The Master" Commisso</a> (right), supreme boss of Siderno, inside his laundry mat that served as cover for him.</p>
<p>And, moreover, two Locali, probably the only ones within the Crimine of Toronto, which do not depend on the mother-Locale of the town of Siderno (the term mother-Locale, adopted by both Italian and Canadian judicial authorities, indicates the Locale that, from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Calabria" target="_blank">Calabria</a>, directs all its dependent Locali scattered throughout the world), but on the near mother-Locali of the towns of:</p>
<p>❶ Gioiosa Jonica, headed by Antonio Ursino, brother of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi" target="_blank">Giuseppe “Pino” Ursino</a>, above mentioned, can be supposed, top boss of his Locale, called Capo Locale, in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Toronto" target="_blank">Toronto</a>, strong of the position of the brother in Calabria with whom, over long distance, he maintained close contacts. An assumption that would find an important confirmation in a story reported in the more recent (2014) Italian Project Morsa sugli appalti (Vise on contracts), according to which, in 2010, the other bosses of the 'Ndrangheta, first of all Giuseppe "The Master" Commisso, were deeply irritated with Antonio Ursino because he had granted a higher rank of ‘Ndrangheta to his brother living in “America” (to be understood as Canada), Giuseppe "Pino", without informing anyone of them. A lack that the Ursinos would have committed to remedy by presentation of Giuseppe “Pino” in front of the Crimine of Toronto for the relative, formal recognition of the highest rank received in secret in Calabria.</p>
<p>❷ Marina di Gioiosa Jonica, its top-ranking members include the Coluccio brothers who had settled in GTA in 2005. The first born and most authoritative, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-boss-giuseppe" target="_blank">Giuseppe</a>, cl. 1966, involved in major cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe, was arrested in a luxury condo on Toronto's waterfront on August 7, 2008. The second, Salvatore Coluccio, cl. 1967, lived in Richmond Hill. The third and younger brother, Antonio, cl. 1969, resident in Richmond Hill too, left voluntarily <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a> in 2010; his father-in-law, Carmelo Bruzzese, cl. 1949, another top boss, was deported from Canada to Italy in October 2015. During his stay in GTA, Antonio worked in close and constant contact with Vincenzo Tavernese, cl. 1955, of Thornhill, as Project Crimine documented: “Coluccio Antonio of Richmond Hill, in the organization of whom, strictly linked to that of Tavernese, would also operate Verducci Carmine”; “the family of Tavernese – Adrianò Giuseppe, brother of today’s investigated Emilio, would work in close symbiosis with the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237132063,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237132063?profile=original" /></a>Coluccios and would have solid relations with Bruzzese Carmelo and the Aquinos of Marina di Gioiosa Jonica. Bruzzese, father-in-law of Coluccio Antonio, has, in Canada, a wide circle of relatives who have been living there for years"). </p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:14pt;">Gambling and bars, restaurants, cafes</span></strong></p>
<p>Within the Locale dependent on Marina di Gioiosa Jonica in GTA, the Capo Locale was likely Carmine Verduci (right), cl. 1957, of Woodbridge (suburban community in Vaughan with a very high Italian-Canadian density), wanted in Italy on charges of mafia association and, together with other formal members and associates with it, one of the main targets of the Project OPhoenix. In any case, the handcuffs were not applied to him because in the meantime, on April 24, 2014, shot dead in a parking lot of a café, the Regina Sports Café, in the same Woodbridge. </p>
<p>Based on the secret recordings contained in another Italian Project called Acero (Italian for “maple”, demonstrating the links among men of ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria and Canada) – Krupy (Sept. 2015), antimafia investigating magistrates suggested that "the elimination of Verduci was planned and determined by the brothers Angelo and Cosimo Figliomeni [residents in GTA, but from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Siderno" target="_blank">Siderno</a>], called the Brigants, currently fugitives in Italy for mafia association", due to the disappearance of a cache of weapons belonging to the Figliomenis, “with consequent responsibilities also ascribed to the boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-boss-giuseppe" target="_blank">Giuseppe Coluccio</a>”. The murder, actually probably the result of the explosion of a struggle for supremacy inside the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-overview" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a> of Toronto, was a heavy blow to the mother-Locale of Marina di Gioiosa Jonica and to its dependent Locale in Toronto and in particular to the Coluccio brothers who, by now back in Calabria, lost one of their main points of reference in Canada (the implications of this fact of blood were many and such that Giuseppe "Pino" Ursino, to precise questions of the infiltrated turncoat during Project OPhoenix, evidently specially prepared by his controllers to obtain clues, was careful not to reveal anything significant: “But then … Verduci did something he was not supposed to do …. something serious though”, Ursino told turncoat). </p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131898,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131898?profile=original" /></a>So, on the one hand, Antonio Coluccio (right), the turncoat always said during the Ursino’s trial, ordered the closure of the Regina Sports Café after the murder (“They said close it for respect for Carmine, and they closed it…”). An example of the control exercised in various forms by the ‘Ndrangheta on bars, cafés, restaurants, social clubs, within which they manage illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a>, useful for feeding loan sharking, certainly one of its “core business”, in particular to the detriment of the most hardened players. </p>
<p>In this regard, better than many abstract descriptions, it’s worth reporting the very precious testimony of a hard-hitting player gathered by Jeremy Grimaldi on Vaughan Citizen, December 11, 2017; the player, codename Mr. Palazzo: “... estimates there are about 50 gambling cafés and bars in Vaughan. All of them, he says, are run by organized crime…”; “He says 50 illegal gambling locations in Vaughan is a conservative estimate and their patrons are losing thousands and paying interest charges of up to 200 per cent per year…”. Situation, moreover, well known to the police: “Palazzo said he met two RCMP investigators in the back of a van. The detectives knew the names he shared with them, he said, had photos of them in a binder”. “We know what these guys are doing to you, they exploit people like you all the time,” they told him. They asked if he’d wear a wire, but he refused out of fear for his life”. </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Retaliate</strong></span></p>
<p>On the other side, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-boss-giuseppe" target="_blank">Giuseppe Coluccio</a>, meanwhile out of prison after having spent over four years in Italian special regime of tough detention (called in short “41 bis”) following his arrest in Toronto in 2008, was ready to organize an immediate retaliation using WhatsApp messages, always the Project Acero-Krupy interceptions told. </p>
<p>A retaliation that probably took place on June 24, 2015, when a solitary armed man attacked the Moka Café, always in Woodbridge, causing two deaths (including a woman, Maria Frascà, named as a cousin of a Figliomeni by Italian authorities, who was employed there) and two injured.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: King of the Bootleggers:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/king-of-the-bootleggers-profile-of-hamilton-mob-boss-rocco-perri" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Hamilton mob boss Rocco Perri</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Although the author of this homicidal action, the Afro-American with a long criminal career Jason Hay, was soon identified by surveillance video positioned right before the Café entrance and convicted (50 years without chance of parole), it has not yet been possible to trace his eventual instigators for his refusal to cooperate in the investigations, evidently fearful of retaliatory actions against him and his family members. </p>
<p>It’s finally possible that this struggle has had a queue: the firebombing of the Grotteria Social Club in Woodbridge, in November 2015, which was registered to Giuseppe Adrianò, of Vaughan, already mentioned above as a close companion of the couple Antonio Coluccio – Vincenzo Tavernese (as again the Project Crimine documented, he is the one who, in the company of Antonio Coluccio, the day after the arrest of Giuseppe Coluccio in Toronto, spoke by phone with Vincenzo Tavernese, at that moment in Italy, to inform him of what had happened and ask him to return urgently to Canada).</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:14pt;">The motherland</span></strong></p>
<p>In this context, and considered that, at any latitude, hostilities are endemic within the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a>, in the opinion of the writer, this struggle between Locali belonging to the Crimine of Toronto was possible due to the power vacuum that occurred inside the mother-Locale of Siderno. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “We’ve been ruling here for 40 years!”</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/we-ve-been-ruling-here-for-40-years-2-mayors-arrested-50m-worth-o" target="_blank"><strong>The Farao-Marincola ‘Ndrangheta clan</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>A lack of proper authority caused by the arrest not only of its supreme boss, Giuseppe “The Master” Commisso (Jul. 2010), but also, a few months later, of Riccardo Rumbo (Dec. 2010) and Antonio Galea (Mar. 2011), who had probably succeeded him and who were the direct hierarchical superiors of the Figliomeni brothers. A relation of subjection dictated by the fact that the Rumbo-Galea-Figliomeni families make up one of the ‘Ndrine, sub-units of the biggest Locali (‘Ndrina, in the singular), however subordinate to the bosses of the Locale, in this case the Commisso blood family, but in turn with its own internal hierarchy. Some dynamics within this ‘Ndrina, which demonstrated once again the close connections of the ‘Ndrangheta between the two shores of the Atlantic, were revealed in December 2010 thanks to another Italian Project called Bene Comune (Common Good, 2010). It, in its own denomination, resumed the words addressed by Riccardo Rumbo to the Figliomeni brothers to stop contrasts inside their same ‘Ndrina (the two Figliomeni brothers from one side; Antonio Galea, Domenico Giorgini and Tito Figliomeni on the other) about the opening of a bar in an area of GTA that did not fall under their competence, for the pursuit of the “common good”. </p>
<p>These arrests would then leave the field free for the Figliomeni brothers. In particular, exempting them from asking their mother-Locale the necessary, in normal times, prior authorization regarding an excellent murder like that of Carmelo Verduci who, based on depositions of the infiltrated turncoat during the trial of Ursino, was a member of the Camera di controllo (board of control), the “board of directors” of the Crimine in Toronto, “It’s the board that makes all of the final decisions”. An action of strength that, for the reason here above, had probably been accomplished in disagreement, or, at least, without the support of the other Locali dependent on Siderno, closer and aligned to the bosses of their mother-Locale.</p>
<p>Significant elements support this hypothesis.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Cocaine pipelines</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237132861,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237132861?profile=original" /></a>In particular, the secret recordings of phrases within the already mentioned Project Acero-Krupy between Vincenzo Crupi (right), husband of Concetta Macrì, daughter of Antonio Macrì, historical supreme boss of the ‘Ndrangheta of Siderno, assassinated in 1975 during the First War of ‘Ndrangheta (1974-1977), and her brother, Vincenzo Macrì, arrested in June 2017, after about a year and a half on the run, at the Sao Paulo airport while he was headed to the capital of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Venezuela" target="_blank">Venezuela</a>, Caracas, where he lived for some time using a false identity. </p>
<p>They, under the cover of companies dedicated to the import and export of flowers and plant nursery products, from their offices near <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a> (therefore a short distance from the large port of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Rotterdam" target="_blank">Rotterdam</a>), directed, together with Vincenzo Crupi's brother, Giuseppe, separated from his wife Gisella Commisso, sister of "The Master", the internal structure of the Locale di Siderno, direct emanation of the Commisso family (also understood, for the described family crossings, Commisso-Macrì-Crupi Clan), which dealt with the traffic of large cocaine shipments from South America to the ports of Northern Europe (cocaine then reached Italy in small lots, max 10 kg, hidden in the trucks that carried the flowers).</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-mafia-boss-talks-about-ndrangheta-s-global-reach" target="_blank"><strong>Italian Mafia boss talks about ‘Ndrangheta’s global reach</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>By far, the most profitable activity of this, like so many other mother-Locali of ‘Ndrangheta, alone or associated to finance purchases at source, although no longer having as natural port of landing only the port of Gioia Tauro, “controlled” by the equally very powerful Locali of Rosarno and of the same Gioia Tauro, due to the increasing number of police checks. An activity that has developed enormously over the years thanks to ever closer relations with all the major Latin American drug cartels, made possible also by the stable presence of men from Calabria in the producer countries for the organization of the loads, for whom the specific term of cocaine broker was coined. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-canadian-connection-flooding-the-u-s-with-dope" target="_blank"><strong>The Canadian Connection: Flooding the U.S. with dope</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>This specialization has made the Calabrian mother-Locali that world criminal power now known to all, from which, however, the Canadian Locali are excluded for a geographical question, being off the relative sea routes, besides of course for reasons of prudence. </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>On their own</strong></span></p>
<p>Condition that forced these last to organize, like the other more articulated Canadian criminal organizations, autonomous drug trafficking through their own contacts to satisfy the domestic demand, as the same legal proceedings against Diego Serrano and Giuseppe “Pino” Ursino have clearly documented. </p>
<p>All that through the right connections and collusions in ports (preferably in Halifax, not being subjected to extortion on the transit like Montreal by the strong local mafia, according to the opinion of the mafia expert Antonio Nicaso) and airports, but also through the overland supply route, from Mexico via the United States into Canada. The latter normally used by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">Mexican drug cartels</a>, as in the case of one of the largest drug trade ever carried out in recent years, handled by a “consortium” of six network's ringleaders of not Italian origin, located in Quebec and dismantled by the Project code-named Loquace in 2012.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Tensions in Toronto</strong></span></p>
<p>In this context, returning from a trip to Canada where his children reside, from February 26 to March 9, 2015 (thus after the Verduci’s murder, but before of the Moka Cafè attack), Vincenzo Crupi reported to Vincenzo Macrì the state of very strong tension that existed at that time in Toronto Area, predicting in a certain sense what a few months later it would have occurred at the Moka Café: “There they will shoot themselves, Vi’ [Vincenzo]….”; “See that they don't stop there now Vi’ [Vincenzo]! These combine something Vince’ [Vincenzo]”. “I told my kids not to go to the bar [of the Figliomenis] anymore. Don't go any more, I told him, let them fuck ... ". Phrases that express strong concern, but also contempt and indifference and no solidarity with the Figliomenis, how could anyone have expected, depending on the same mother-Locale of Siderno. For the reason that they were moving independently of the indications of the highest-ranking members of their mother-Locale, all of them detained under the regime of tough detention (the first objective of this special prison regime is precisely that of not allowing bosses to direct their organizations even from prison). A situation that advised the Crupis, probably in agreement with the bosses of the other Locali of Toronto dependent on Siderno, not to interfere in those dynamics, deprived of the authority of the supreme bosses to impose some solution and too busy managing an activity that, for no reason in the world (much less so because of an internal “peripheral” struggle), had to be put at risk, but to think only of the safety of their close relatives resident there.</p>
<p>The exposure developed by the murder of Verduci ends here.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Rizzuto involvement</strong></span></p>
<p>In this regard, only one last consideration: despite some media reports, the speculations about a possible involvement in this murder of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/montreal-mafia-boss-vito-rizzuto-1946-2013" target="_blank">Rizzuto crime family</a> instead seem to be unreliable considering the historical relationships between the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Montreal" target="_blank">Montreal</a> Family and the mother-Locale of Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and in particular with Carmelo Bruzzese and Giuseppe Coluccio. </p>
<p>Not by chance, there isn’t a single clue suggesting an involvement of this Locale, neither of Verduci individually, in the internal war that shook the Montreal Family starting in 2009. Much more plausible is instead that one, or more Locali dependent on the mother-Locale of Siderno have supported the local faction that tried, without success, to take control of the Montreal mob.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/a-deadly-weasel-moving-tons-of-cocaine-profile-of-montreal-s-west" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Montreal’s West End mob boss Allan Ross</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237133252,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237133252?profile=original" /></a>Hypothesis reinforced by the murder of Salvatore Calautti, 40, formally restaurant owner in North York, gunned down together with his associate James Tusek, 35, outside a banquet hall in Vaughan, on July 12, 2013. </p>
<p>Salvatore Calautti (right) was a well-known figure in the GTA's underworld. Probably, a formal member of one Locale dependent on Siderno, suspected of having had an important role, among many, in the slaying of Nicolò Rizzuto Sr., father of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/montreal-mafia-boss-vito-rizzuto-1946-2013" target="_blank">Montreal Mafia godfather Vito Rizzuto</a>, in November 2010. Role that would have cost him a contract killing, reserved for hitmen certainly not improvised and signed by the same Vito Rizzuto in person, to the perfect success of which he had the satisfaction to see, before he passed away from cancer in December 2013.</p>
<p>A heavy involvement of at least one Locale of Toronto, probably to be extended to large part of the archipelago of the Locali from Siderno under the undisputed direction and authority of the Commisso brothers (Cosimo, Rocco Remo and Michele), residents in GTA and cousins of the “The Master”, which would be confirmed by a report of Peter Edwards (July 30, 2017, The Star) according to whom: “… There was enormous bad blood between the Rizzutos and local ‘Ndrangheta at the time of Rizzuto’s death. They were on opposite side of a mob war in the early 2000s that saw Rizzuto’s father and eldest son murdered. At the time of his death, Rizzuto was believed by police to have drafted a “black list” of men in the Commisso family he wanted killed.”.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this double murder is still completely unsolved.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“They have patience”</strong></span></p>
<p>And also the attempts by the infiltrator turncoat within the Project OPhoenix to get information from Ursino didn’t produce useful results. Who, if he had spoken only in vague and general terms about Verduci’s homicide, concerning those of Calautti offered a motive, but that had the taste of misdirection. In fact, he linked it to a murder perpetrated, in his opinion, by Calautti in 1996, for which the relatives of the murdered person, the bakery owner Francesco Loiero, well 17 years later, would get revenge. “These people don’t have nothing to do. They have patience.”, with this pearl of mafia mentality stated to the turncoat, who appeared doubtful given the long time spent, Ursino closed the argument.</p>
<p>In any case, a misdirection or, in simpler words, a spread of false rumors in the underworld, as indeed happens frequently. But, in this case, a diversion by Ursino that seemed to show the profound sign left by that loss. A blow to the ‘Ndrangheta of Toronto and in particular to the Locale, one of those dependent on Siderno, which had perhaps lost his most valiant man of action. Locale that, in turn, was probably unable to organize a retaliation. Too much in fact the disparity of forces in terms of economic availability to unleash teams of professional killers in enemy territory, even in that particular historical moment, in which the Rizzuto family was no longer extraordinarily strong as before, but in any case it had already overcome the storm of the internal war started in 2009, even if at the cost of heavy losses.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/salvatore-scoppa-brother-of-montreal-mafia-leader-shot-to-death-a" target="_blank">Salvatore Scoppa, brother of Montreal Mafia leader</a>, shot to death at Sheraton Hotel in Laval</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Then, the fact that the Locali dependent on the mother-Locale of Siderno, which have always exercised a sort of majority dominance over the others in GTA (for example, can be supposed, claiming the right of nomination of the Capo Crimine, the boss of the bosses of Toronto, to whom however, more than the supreme command, the custody, only in his memory, of the ritual formulas and the rules including the surveillance of their compliance is delegated, especially as regards the control over the rank progressions), came out unscathed from the Project OPhoenix and that, after it, no other investigation against the 'Ndrangheta has been concluded, shows how much it’s still long way to go to defeat this organization that continues to make secrecy its fundamental strength. </p>
<p>Secrecy guaranteed, in the first place, from the historic absence of government witnesses among its formal members, the only ones able to reveal the articulated structure of the organization, as well as the individual criminal responsibilities of many members and associates.</p>
<p>We refer to:</p>
<ul>
<li>the identity of the Capo Crimine (position held in 2010, based on the aforementioned Project Vise on contracts, by Domenico Ruso, cl. 1945, of Brampton) within the Camera di Controllo;</li>
<li>the identities of the other members of the Camera di Controllo (can be supposed, one for each Locale);</li>
<li>for each individual Locale, the identities and ranks of its bosses, formal members and associates as well as its territory of competence and criminal activities, identifying, with regard to them, the roles of each one;</li>
<li>the authors and the instigators of the main acts of blood and intimidation; </li>
<li>the links with the mother-Locali in Calabria;</li>
<li>the links with the other criminal organizations of Italian origin, near and far (for a matter of same cultural identity, the criminals of Italian origin, however an extremely restricted community, tend to work among themselves; the problem is that, inevitably, in the face of so many illegal businesses, there is always a share that, for the most varied reasons, ends badly; this explains the high number of violent actions that are recorded also and above all among them);</li>
<li>the links with the other criminal organizations of not Italian origin, far away, in particular for the drug supply, but also close, to collaborate mainly always in the drug trafficking and to avoid tensions at the same time, firstly with the Hell’s Angels, forts of 15 chapters in Ontario of which six in GTA (P. Edwards, February 12, 2018, The Star); in this regard, a marginal but significant episode told by the infiltrator turncoat during the Ursino’s trial clearly testified the great appreciation, from the criminal point of view, of the Hell’s Angels for the ‘Ndrangheta bosses in Toronto;</li>
<li>the collusions of external professionals to committing money laundering and so on. </li>
</ul>
<p>For instance, an equivalent of what was, in the '80s, Tommaso Buscetta for Sicilian La Cosa Nostra. </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Tradecraft</strong></span></p>
<p>A great deal of information, clues and evidence that not even the most capable of infiltrators (currently the main successful instruments of police investigation into the fight against organized crime not only in Canada, but also in the U.S.) can offer, in reason of the narrowness of the sphere of knowledge within which the associates are held by the formal members, precisely in order to provide the minimum number of information to external subjects. </p>
<p>A technique that is achieved through one to one relationships, between an associate and only one formal member, so as to have only one damaged, and not more, in case of treason. From this point of view, Project Phoenix is a paradigmatic example: the infiltrator turncoat allows to have his direct contact member, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi" target="_blank">Giuseppe “Pino” Ursino</a>, indicted and sentenced, but no one else. In particular, not Cosimo Commisso, cl. 1945, cousin of "The Master" and resident with his two brothers in GTA for decades, who was also one of the original targets of this investigation, but not charged at its end. And this, though the infiltrator turncoat, during the trial of Ursino, had testified that he and Angelino Figliomeni were also members of the ’Ndrangheta, thus confirming the report contained in Project Crimine according to which they were among the top bosses of Toronto.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/powerful-calabrian-mafia-boss-marcello-the-dancer-pesce-arrested" target="_blank"><strong>Powerful Calabrian Mafia boss Marcello “The Dancer” Pesce</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>However, effectively, an enormously difficult decision to make for a formal member of the ‘Ndrangheta that of becoming a government witness. Because very often means going not only against his own criminal organization, but also against his own blood family, composed of brothers, fathers, nephews, brothers in law, cousins, etc., one or more, also men of the 'Ndrangheta with consequent breakdown of all family relationships (a Locale usually corresponds to a set of blood families among which there is one that by tradition, capacity criminals, force of numbers, family intersections through arranged marriages, dominates the others).</p>
<p>But this objective, regardless, would require the possibility to threaten to impose prison punishments of a much longer duration than is currently happening, also considered the usual reduced sentences (as it’s known, in the vast majority of cases, there are two reasons that can push a big criminal to turn: ① to avoid spending the rest of his life, or a large part of it, in prison; ② to escape a death sentence already issued by his own organization for any reason whatsoever).</p>
<p>A possibility not practicable currently. </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Prosecution</strong></span></p>
<p>Certainly because of an objective difficulty consisting of the increasingly frequent habit to hire hitmen. An expedient capable of canceling for the men of the ‘Ndrangheta the odds to have long prison sentences for the crime of murder, the longest that a penal code provides, if not as instigators, a role which is very hard to prove in a courtroom without the direct testimony of those who were in charge, never willing to put their and their families' lives at risk.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Brother of Mafia snitch was murdered</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/brother-of-mafia-snitch-was-murdered-after-he-had-asked-to-be-rem" target="_blank"><strong>after he had asked to be removed from witness protection program</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>But also in absence of a specific offence of “mafia association”, that is the simple membership in a criminal organizations having mafia requirements, despite in Canada ‘Ndrangheta has reproduced in the same identical terms of how it’s organized and operates in the homeland (“The Locali outside of Calabria replicate the structure from Calabria, and are connected to their mother-Locali in Calabria”, the same Project OPhoenix statement of facts said; and continuing: “The authority to start Locali outside Calabria comes from the governing bodies of the organization in Calabria. The Locali outside of Calabria are part of the same ‘Ndrangheta organization as in Calabria, and maintain close relationships with the Locali where its members come from.”). The advantages deriving from the introduction of this specific offence would be obvious: ① more people could be prosecuted; ② the relative sentences would be of longer prison duration; ③ it would be possible to extradite those who, condemned in Italy for this offence, would find refuge in Canada, in addition to preventing new arrivals.</p>
<p>A legal question which also highlights how wrong it’s to consider the repression of the great criminal phenomena only as a police problem.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Canada was warned of the dangerous ‘Ndrangheta</strong></span></p>
<p>Leaving aside the social aspects (it would be interesting to understand how it’s possible that in Canada there is such a high offer of criminal services on commission, absolutely horizontal among the different racial and ethnic communities, that exempt mobsters and high-level criminals from getting their hands dirty), recent history teaches that, in order to defeat or heavily hit certain particularly deeply rooted and structured criminal organizations, States must essentially combine a purely repressive activity with a coordinated series of actions and initiatives of political, legislative and judicial nature to provide new and more adequate tools for investigators and persecutors. </p>
<p>From this point of view, it does not seem that today Canada has yet fully embarked on this path, despite the past experiences, but also the warnings from outside. </p>
<p>It’s enough to remember the visit in Canada, now in the distant 2012, of the investigating magistrate Nicola Gratteri, the spearhead in the fight against the ‘Ndrangheta in Italy, just to warn of the danger of this organization and the too much freedom of action left to it, particularly in GTA: “For 10 years, we have been telling Canadians to pay attention because the ’Ndrangheta is very strong, especially in the Toronto region… ”. A reminder that it should have contributed to raise more than some important debate about an adjustment of the law enforcement instruments and instead it doesn’t seem to have been taken into due consideration. Or, at least, to establish a closer cooperation and information sharing among police forces and prosecutors of the two countries. Obviously, one of the keystones in heavily hitting this powerful organization that makes transnationality a fundamental point of strength, probably without equal in the world criminal scene.</p>
<ul>
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Naples Camorra Mafia boss Marco Di Lauro’s days as a “super fugitive” come to an end
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/naples-camorra-mafia-boss-marco-di-lauro-s-days-as-a-super-fugiti
2019-03-03T08:30:27.000Z
2019-03-03T08:30:27.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/naples-camorra-mafia-boss-marco-di-lauro-s-days-as-a-super-fugiti" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237110466,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237110466?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Camorra boss Marco Di Lauro (photos above) was arrested in Naples on Saturday after spending 14 years on the run from authorities and rivals as a “super fugitive”. The 38-year-old Mafia leader was found living with his wife and two cats in a modest apartment.</p>
<p>Italian police viewed Di Lauro as the second most wanted <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fugitive" target="_blank">fugitive</a> in the country – just behind <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview" target="_blank">Cosa Nostra</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-matteo" target="_blank">Matteo Messina Denaro</a>. He went on the lam in 2004. Two years later an international warrant was issued for his arrest.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-tactics-needed-in-hunt-for-sicilian-mafia-s-boss-of-bosses-me" target="_blank">New tactics needed in hunt</a> for Sicilian Mafia’s boss of bosses Messina Denaro – Prosecutor: “He’s not normal.”</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Straight out of Gomorra</strong></span></p>
<p>Di Lauro’s story resembles the plot of television series <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gomorra" target="_blank">Gomorra</a> in which <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a> boss Pietro Savastano and his son Gennaro fight for dominance over <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Naples" target="_blank">Naples</a>’ underworld. Marco Di Lauro is the fourth son of Paolo Di Lauro, one of the area’s most infamous godfathers.</p>
<p>Just like the Savastano clan, the Di Lauro clan operated in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scampia" target="_blank">Scampia</a> and Secondigliano neighborhoods of Naples frequently seen in the Gomorra tv series.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi" target="_blank"><strong>Thief tells how he sold two stolen Van Gogh paintings to Camorra</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>A rift between the Di Lauro and the Amato-Pagano clans led to a vicious gang war in 2004 that caused over 130 lives. Don Paolo was already a fugitive by then, having disappeared in 2002. He was captured in September of 2005 and is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Like father, like son</strong></span></p>
<p>Marco followed in his father’s footsteps and took the reign of his embattled organization around 2005. He went by the nickname “F4” – meaning fourth son. According to testimony by a pentito (turncoat), Marco Di Lauro was involved in at least four gangland <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murders</a>.</p>
<p>With such a background story it’s no surprise police came out in full force to apprehend the young crime boss. Around 150 agents were involved in the operation. When they entered the apartment, they found Di Lauro sitting next to his cats while eating a pasta dish. He gave himself up without a fight.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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</ul>
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<p> </p></div>
“The Mafia defines who he is” – Profile of Toronto ‘Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe “Pino” Ursino
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi
2019-03-02T11:23:54.000Z
2019-03-02T11:23:54.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237117477,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237117477?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>As far as powerful Mafia bosses go, Giuseppe Ursino (photo above) is as low-key as they come. So much so that when he was convicted of trafficking cocaine for the ‘Ndrangheta and sentenced to over a decade in prison Thursday, it was the first criminal conviction of his life.</p>
<p>“Pino” Ursino was born in Italy and migrated to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a> in 1971 on the cusp of manhood at the age of 18. He settled in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ontario" target="_blank">Ontario</a>, planting roots in Bradford and starting a family with his wife. In 2019, they had been married for 40 years. Ursino’s relatives described him as a “good-hearted, caring and gentle husband, father and grandfather.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Killing his way to the top of the Calabrian Mafia</strong></span></p>
<p>That may well be, but, according to prosecutors, Ursino was also a powerful member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-overview" target="_blank">Calabrian Mafia</a>, known as the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a>, operating in the Greater Toronto Area. They claim he rose to the top spot of a ‘Ndrangheta cell in 1996 after the murder of Francesco Loiero, an Ontario baker. The mastermind behind his killing has never been apprehended and it remains unsolved.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-mafia-boss-talks-about-ndrangheta-s-global-reach" target="_blank"><strong>Italian Mafia boss talks about ‘Ndrangheta’s global reach</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>As a ‘Ndrangheta leader, Ursino was able to impose his will on a large army of deadly and wealthy men with connections around the world. With its roots in the Calabria region of Italy, the group currently ranks as the most powerful <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime" target="_blank">Mafia group in Italy</a>, above <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview" target="_blank">Sicilian Cosa Nostra</a> and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Neapolitan Camorra</a>, thanks to its connections to South American drug cartels.</p>
<p>Based on bonds by blood and marriage and formed around clans, the ‘Ndrangheta quickly spread out into other parts of Italy, Europe, and the rest of the world, including Canada. In Ontario, the group is viewed by law enforcement as a significant crime threat, similar to that posed by the Sicilian Mafia, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bikers-amp-outlaw-motorcycle" target="_blank">outlaw motorcycle clubs</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">street gangs</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>From Mafia enforcer to paid snitch</strong></span></p>
<p>In the years following his promotion in 1996, Ursino kept an extremely low profile. But authorities remained vigilant and eager to make a move. Their opportunity came in 2012 when mob enforcer Carmine Guido felt his role in the underworld was coming to an end after making several grave errors.</p>
<p>An imposing figure, Guido was a career criminal involved in fraud and drug trafficking, who frequently let his anger get the best of him. His rage was helpful when he made the rounds collecting debts for the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> and threatening deadbeats, but it was an obstacle when he hit his girlfriend or got into trouble with other gangsters.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “We’ve been ruling here for 40 years!”</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/we-ve-been-ruling-here-for-40-years-2-mayors-arrested-50m-worth-o" target="_blank"><strong>The Farao-Marincola ‘Ndrangheta clan</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Like the times he spat on a man with strong links to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a> or defrauded another man who was under heavy protection from the ‘Ndrangheta. If angering the Calabrian Mafia wasn’t enough, he also pulled a gun on a full-patch outlaw biker.</p>
<p>To add to his woes, he owed several hundred thousand dollars in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> debts to the ‘Ndrangheta.</p>
<p>That is why he decided to contact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=RCMP" target="_blank">RCMP</a>) and offered to wear a wire on his colleagues in the underworld. Over a period of two years, he met with gangland figures and recorded their conversations. In return, he was paid $2.4 million dollars and was allowed to disappear into the Witness Protection Program.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237118058,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237118058?profile=original" /></a>Project OPhoenix</strong></span></p>
<p>On June 2, 2015, the fruits of his labor came to bore as the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), comprised of Toronto-area forces and RCMP officers, arrested 19 leaders, members and associates of two ‘Ndrangheta cells who were involved in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a>, drug and weapons trafficking. They also seized three guns, approximately 8.5 kilos of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, 7 kilos of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">marijuana</a>, and cash.</p>
<p>Authorities named the operation Project OPhoenix. RCMP Superintendent Keith Finn said it had targeted two ‘Ndrangheta cells, one run by Giuseppe Ursino (right), the other by Carmine Verduci. Ursino was among those arrested, while Verduci was shot to death several months earlier at a café in Woodbridge, Ontario. He was 56 years old.</p>
<p>“There is an established hierarchy,” Finn explained. “There's layers of insulation to protect specific individuals in there.” In the end, the power lies in Italy with the ‘Ndrangheta leaders in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Calabria" target="_blank">Calabria</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Standing up in court</strong></span></p>
<p>During the subsequent trial, prosecutors painted a picture of Ursino as a calculated high-ranking mobster who played other gangsters and various criminal schemes like a piano. At the same time, he tried to stay away far enough so as to avoid being implicated in any crimes.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: King of the Bootleggers:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/king-of-the-bootleggers-profile-of-hamilton-mob-boss-rocco-perri" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Hamilton mob boss Rocco Perri</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, the law doesn’t work that way. And Guido and his new friends in law enforcement knew that all too well. After Ursino introduced Guido to Cosmin “Chris” Dracea, a Romanian-born associate of the ‘Ndrangheta, to set up drug shipments, the turncoat gave his boss $1,000 dollars as a thank you for making the introduction.</p>
<p>Dracea and Guido spent two years plotting several cocaine shipments. They planned to ship it “from Jamaica, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic into Canada hidden between layers of paper pressed into cardboard, stuffed inside frozen fish and in barrels of spicy jerk sauce to throw off drug-sniffing dogs,” the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto-mafia-boss-colleague-given-extra-long-prison-terms-while-secretive-organization-gets-special-scrutiny" target="_blank">National Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>Guido recorded talks with both Ursino and Dracea in which they discussed the sale of one kilo of high-grade cocaine for $60,000 in December of 2014.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“I’m not a boss”</strong></span></p>
<p>While standing trial both men vehemently denied all charges against them. Backed by the fact that none of the plots resulted in an actual drug shipment making its way to Canada, they gave various reasons for their incriminating words caught on tape.</p>
<p>The $1,000 dollars Ursino received from Guido? That was just a friendly gift, Ursino testified in his defense.</p>
<p>Smuggling coke inside frozen fish or barrels of spicy jerk sauce? Dracea made those up, he said in court. He got those ideas from movies and books. Besides, if he was guilty of any crime it was of trying to scam Guido out of money and making him believe they were planning a drug deal.</p>
<p>Both men claimed they just said those things to make them look like big time gangsters.</p>
<p>“I’m not a boss, not even in my own family,” Ursino said in court. Referring to his words caught on tape, he added: “The stupid words come out of my mouth. What I’m talking is one thing. What I mean is another.”</p>
<p>Despite their testimony, the jury wasn’t having it. They found Ursino guilty of trafficking cocaine on behalf of a criminal organization and various other drug charges. Dracea was also found guilty of the majority of charges against him.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the pair was sentenced by Judge Brian O’Marra. 42-year-old Dracea received a 10-year prison sentence. 65-year-old Ursino was sentenced to over 12 years behind bars.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“The Mafia defines who he is”</strong></span></p>
<p>“Based on the evidence at trial, Giuseppe Ursino is a high-ranking member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-overview" target="_blank">‘Ndrangheta</a> who orchestrated criminal conduct and then stepped back to lessen his potential implication,” O’Marra stated at the sentencing hearing.</p>
<p>He added that the ‘Ndrangheta cell structure has a distinct purpose: “This secrecy is aimed at preventing possible leaks that could damage the organization and allow police infiltration. It is not possible to know exactly how many members there are, but there are thousands of members worldwide.”</p>
<p>“It is a monumental achievement,” federal prosecutor Tom Andreopoulos said after sentencing. “This conclusion crystallizes for the first time in Canadian judicial history the compelling characteristics of the notorious international organized crime group at work in Canada, the ’Ndrangheta.”</p>
<p>He added that no one should be deceived by Ursino’s appearance and reputation as a loving family man. “The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> is Mr. Ursino’s milieu,” the prosecutor said. “It defines who he is.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in-canada-from-the-mafia-to-outlaw-bikers-and-dru">Organized Crime in Canada section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Camorra boss Antonio La Torre charged with plotting murder of Anti-Mafia prosecutors
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-antonio-la-torre-charged-with-plotting-murder-of-ant
2018-09-01T10:00:00.000Z
2018-09-01T10:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-antonio-la-torre-charged-with-plotting-murder-of-ant" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237106467,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237106467?profile=original" width="550" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Alleged Camorra boss Antonio La Torre (photo above) was arrested in Italy this week after police say they have evidence that he and his imprisoned brother Augusto plotted to assassinate two Anti-Mafia prosecutors. The two brothers made a name for themselves as they built an empire from Italy to Scotland and left the streets littered with dead bodies in the process.</p>
<p>The La Torre brothers led the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a> clan based in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mondragone" target="_blank">Mondragone</a>, a seaside town near <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Naples" target="_blank">Naples</a>. Following in the footsteps of their mob boss father Tiberio La Torre, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-augusto-la-torre" target="_blank">Augusto</a> took center stage of the organization with his willingness to kill. With their reputation for violence, the brothers quickly built a multimillion-dollar empire which stretched from Italy to other parts of Europe, mainly the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">Netherlands</a> and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=UK" target="_blank">United Kingdom</a>.</p>
<p>Antonio settled in Aberdeen, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scotland" target="_blank">Scotland</a>, in 1984, married a Scottish woman, and opened up several successful businesses using the clan’s ill-gotten gains. It took authorities 20 years to realize the La Torre brothers were laundering their dirty cash through their British business empire.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236998484,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236998484?profile=original" /></a>Antonio was busted in 2005 and convicted of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Racketeering" target="_blank">racketeering</a> in Italy a year later. He was released from prison in 2014. His brother <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-augusto-la-torre" target="_blank">Augusto</a> (right) was also arrested and admitted his involvement in over <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-augusto-la-torre" target="_blank">40 murders</a> and is still serving his sentence.</p>
<p>Now, however, the two men are back in the news. Police claim they have evidence that the brothers threatened to murder two prosecutors: Alessandro D’Alessio and his deputy Maria Laura Lalia Morra. The plot allegedly originated from Augusto’s prison cell and was uncovered by authorities when they used wiretaps and intercepted phone calls to listen in on discussions about the sinister plot.</p>
<p>In one recorded call, Augusto tells Antonio he “kills people” and orders him to “call” D’Alessio. According to authorities these words are a veiled threat. As Italian prosecutors are all too familiar with Mafia violence against them, they pounced quickly, arresting 62-year-old Antonio and three other men in a series of police raids and charged them with illegal possession of firearms, attempted extortion, attempted robbery and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> association. Antonio has denied being guilty of any crimes.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
“I’m not crazy” - Profile of Camorra boss Michele “The Madman” Zaza
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/i-m-not-crazy-profile-of-camorra-boss-michele-the-madman-zaza
2018-04-02T11:00:00.000Z
2018-04-02T11:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-m-not-crazy-profile-of-camorra-boss-michele-the-madman-zaza" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237102481,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237102481?profile=original" width="570" /></a></p>
<p>By David Amoruso</p>
<p><em>“I’m not crazy. Some of my relatives have been in a lunatic asylum, but I haven’t.”</em> – Camorra boss Michele Zaza</p>
<p>Gangsters like Michele Zaza don’t come around often. Nicknamed “‘O Pazzo” or “The Madman,” he was known as much for talking candidly with the media as for his cunning and ruthless way of doing business. He fought hard and deadly - street fights and Mafia wars – and made hundreds of millions along the way.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Pure muscle</strong></span></p>
<p>Born in the town of Procida in the Gulf of Naples on April 10, 1945, Zaza cut his teeth as a youngster on the streets of the city of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Naples" target="_blank">Naples</a>. He didn’t have many options growing up in post-World War II <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Portici" target="_blank">Portici</a>, a neighborhood stricken by poverty and crime.</p>
<p>Before reaching the age of 20, he had a richly filled criminal record. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Theft" target="_blank">Theft</a>, illegal possession of a firearm, assault, attempted <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a>: it was part of Zaza’s daily life. He was described as 90 kilos (200 pounds) of pure muscle. Despite his size, he never left home without his two pistols. One in the right pocket of his jacket and the second in his sock. Zaza was ready for war whenever he went out.</p>
<p>His hot-tempered behavior was legendary. There are mythical tales about Zaza chasing a bandit through the port of Santa Lucia while firing his pistol, finally shooting him down in the lobby of Hotel Miramare. The reason? A woman, it was said.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>King of the Blondes</strong></span></p>
<p>Such stories earned him his nickname ‘O Pazzo. It also earned him a seat at the table of the Sicilian Mafia known as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview" target="_blank">Cosa Nostra</a>. As a representative of Palermo’s Santa Maria di Gesu crime family, Francesco Marino Mannoia visited Naples in the 1970s together with two other members of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Palermo" target="_blank">Palermo</a> crime families to set up cigarette smuggling routes. “I hated that world,” he later said. “It was unworthy of a man of honor.”</p>
<p>This was Zaza’s world. And with help from Cosa Nostra he expanded his world and power. According to Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta, Zaza became a made member of Cosa Nostra and was part of Michele Greco’s Cupola, the Commission of the Sicilian Mafia. Over the years, he became close friends with such powerful figures such as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Riina" target="_blank">Salvatore “Toto” Riina</a>, Bernardo Brusca, Pipo Calo, Pippo Calderone, and especially <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bono" target="_blank">Alfredo Bono</a>, who Zaza called <em>compariello</em>, which means <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Godfather" target="_blank">Godfather</a> in Neapolitan.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-traitor-tommaso-buscetta-s-life-story-to-hit-big-screen" target="_blank">Mafia traitor Tommaso Buscetta's life story to hit big screen</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The two forged a special bond on February 25, 1974, when they drove their BMW through a police checkpoint near Palermo. As cops chased after them, they failed to realize they had fallen victim to distraction. While they placed all their attention on the BMW, another car carrying fugitive <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Corleone" target="_blank">Corleone</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/la-primula-rossa-the-story-of" target="_blank">Luciano Leggio</a>, Cosa Nostra’s future boss of bosses, passed through without a hitch.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“I’m proud of that! $24 million!”</strong></span></p>
<p>Cigarette smuggling made Zaza a fortune and earned him another nickname: “King of the Blondes.”</p>
<p>Under questioning, he once testified: “First I’d sell 5 cases of Philip Morris, then 10, then a 1,000, then 3,000, and I bought myself six or seven ships that you took away from me… I used to load 50,000 cases a month. I could load 100,000 cases, $10 million dollars on trust. All I had to do was make a phone call. I’d buy $24 million dollars’ worth of Philip Morris in three months. My lawyer will show you the receipts. I’m proud of that! $24 million!”</p>
<p>But $24 million was peanuts compared to the money he and Bono made trafficking <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a> from Marseilles, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=France" target="_blank">France</a>, through local crime boss Gaetan Zampa. A business Zaza denied being involved in when he is questioned by Italian magistrates.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-math-calculating-italian-organized-crime-s-illicit-income" target="_blank">Mafia Math: Calculating Italian organized crime's illicit income</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“Say about me what you will,” he began, “but never connect my name to drugs. I am horrified by two things: kidnapping people and trafficking narcotics. This product doesn’t interest me, although I don’t want to morally condemn people who are involved in these businesses. I have children and every day I pray to the Madonna that she will protect them, when they are adults, from the sins of the game and drugs.”</p>
<p>Several <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> turncoats and authorities in multiple countries disagreed. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=DEA" target="_blank">DEA</a> kept an eye on Zaza ever since January 1982 when they received a tip that Zaza was behind a package of 52 kilos of heroin discovered in New York.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Camorra war</strong></span></p>
<p>Regardless of how he earned his money, it can not be refuted that Zaza earned hundreds of millions. American dollars, Italian lires, English pounds, French francs, and whatever currency he felt comfortable with. It was a fortune that came in handy when a full-blown war broke out between two factions within the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Neapolitan Camorra</a> in the late 1970s.</p>
<p>In 1970, Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo formed a new overseeing Camorra organization called Nuovo Camorra Organizzata (NCO). Cutolo had spent many years behind bars and created an ideology that attracted many convicts and youngsters who had no hope for the future. More and more joined his organization and got involved in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> trafficking.</p>
<p>The established <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra" target="_blank">Camorra</a> groups, including the one headed by Zaza, joined Cutolo’s NCO and gave him a percentage of their profits. These groups made most of their money shipping cigarettes and heroin and had moved on by investing in real estate and legitimate businesses.</p>
<p>But the partnership began to disintegrate. In opposition to Cutolo, Zaza founded Onorata fratellanza, the Honorable Brotherhood. Then the NCO encroached on the territory of the Giuliano Clan, which controlled the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Forcella" target="_blank">Forcella</a> neighborhood in the center of Naples, and also demanded a piece of Zaza’s illegal gambling operations in his personal fiefdom of Portici.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Living large in Beverly Hills</strong></span></p>
<p>In the years that followed 1,500 people were murdered. Zaza was not one of them. His wealth bought him estates in France and the United States. He bought a luxurious mansion in Beverly Hills, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LA" target="_blank">Los Angeles</a>, worth over $1.5 million dollars and set up a heroin refinery in the south of France using old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-man-who-stole-the-french" target="_blank">French Connection</a> contacts.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-the-sicilian-mafia-flooded" target="_blank">How the Sicilian Mafia flooded the US with heroin</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Away from Italy, he hoped to be able to be shielded from police investigations. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. Police arrested him in December of 1982 in Rome. Claiming his health was in bad shape, he was able to get house arrest while awaiting trial.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The Sicilian Flu</strong></span></p>
<p>He actually was in bad shape. He had chronic bronchitis and frequently fell ill with the flu. But authorities claimed he was abusing his sickness to escape justice. Anti-Mafia judge Paolo Mancuso said: “The only, real therapy for Zaza was a surgical operation. His refusal to undergo such a procedure is proof that he is using his illness to gain certain advantages during his trial.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: Basta! <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/basta-how-sicily-s-antimafia-movement-is-successfully-standing-up" target="_blank">How Sicily's Anti-Mafia movement fights Cosa Nostra</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>He added that Zaza “didn’t hesitate to worsen his health by smoking profusely and trying to raise the stress of his capture to a maximum”. As such, Zaza was among the first Mafia bosses to use health issues to beat the system.</p>
<p>It worked. In late December of 1983, he fled to Paris. He stayed under the radar but was caught because of his love of football. He made a phone call to Rome to inform about the result of the match between Juventus and Roma. On April 16, 1984, police arrested him in front of his apartment on the rue des Belles-Feuilles in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Paris" target="_blank">Paris</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>A Kingpin in France</strong></span></p>
<p>He was extradited to Italy only to escape again. This time, he settled in the southern French city of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Nice" target="_blank">Nice</a>. Enjoying his wealth and the sun, he continued doing what he did best: moving heroin and cigarettes. His colleagues still looked up to him as a figure of knowledge and respect. On February 14, 1989, he held a high-level meeting at the Elysée Palace hotel in Nice between Camorra bosses to discuss the smuggling of narcotics. Authorities say he held similar meetings at the Hotel Méridien.</p>
<p>Though he was out of reach of Italian authorities, those in France were on his tail as well. They busted him eventually and handed him a 3-year prison sentence in 1991 after convicting him of smuggling cigarettes. After his release from prison, it was like Zaza was caught in some kind of loop. In 1993 he was arrested yet again. This time for his involvement in a cocaine pipeline with members of Cosa Nostra and the Camorra.</p>
<p>He was extradited to Italy where his health quickly deteriorated while locked up in a cell. He was moved to a hospital in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Rome" target="_blank">Rome</a> where he succumbed to a heart attack on July 18, 1994.</p>
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Thief who sold two Van Gogh paintings to Camorra Mafia says he hid at mansion of FC Barcelona player Patrick Kluivert
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi
2017-03-22T11:30:00.000Z
2017-03-22T11:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237088253,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237088253?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The thief behind one of the biggest art heists in history stepped into the spotlight yesterday as he went on various Dutch talk shows to discuss how he stole two Van Gogh paintings worth millions from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002 and eventually sold them to a Camorra drug boss. In between, he also claims to have stayed at the home of then-FC Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert while on the run from police.</p>
<p>Burglar Octave “Okkie” Durham is now the subject of a documentary titled <em>The Man Who Stole Two Van Goghs</em> by Dutch news show <em>Brandpunt</em>. In it, he tells reporters and the public everything he did leading up to, during, and after the infamous art heist. It is clear he revels in the attention and he is anything but remorseful, better yet, he is proud of his criminal accomplishment.</p>
<p>The Van Gogh Museum heist in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a> in 2002 went down with relative ease. Durham and Henk, a good friend of his, had been casing the place for some time before they finally decided to go ahead and execute their plan. Using a stolen ladder, some rope, and a hammer the two men entered the museum filled with hundreds of millions worth’ of exclusive art. They grabbed Vincent van Gogh’s <em>View of the Sea at Scheveningen</em> and <em>Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen</em>.</p>
<p>While they stole the paintings, they monitored police radios to stay up to date on last minute movements. As cops arrived at their place of entry, the ladder at the front of the museum, the two thieves escaped at the back of the museum using a simple rope. They then get away in a stolen car.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-math-calculating-italian-organized-crime-s-illicit-income" target="_blank">Mafia Math: Calculating Italian organized crime's illicit income</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>As professional as “Okkie” may claim to have been, he left behind a baseball cap with his DNA in it, putting authorities on his tail almost immediately. A lack of evidence and urgency, however, kept police from searching the burglar’s residence or other locations, giving him enough time to move the paintings to a safe location.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237088467,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237088467?profile=original" width="223" /></a>He then tried to sell the paintings to his contacts in the Amsterdam underworld. Many criminals are interested in obtaining famous artwork as they can use it as a bargaining chip in court. Dutch drug boss Cor van Hout was eager to buy the paintings but was shot to death before he and Durham could reach an official deal. Crime boss Mink Kok, currently residing in Beirut, Lebanon, was also offered the Van Goghs but nothing came of it.</p>
<p>Durham then received a call from a man known as “Pinocchio,” who quickly closed the deal and purchased the two Van Gogh paintings. “Pinocchio” was an old acquaintance of Durham and a friend of his partner-in-crime Henk. Authorities only managed to pick up his nickname and were in the dark about his criminal pedigree.</p>
<p>“Pinocchio” nonetheless was an important player in the Amsterdam underworld. He lived there for twelve years and owned Coffeeshop Rockland, where tourists enjoyed smoking some weed. The man behind the nickname is <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-bust-drug-trafficking-camorra-clan-and-retrieve-st" target="_blank">Raffaele Imperiale</a> (photo right), an Italian drug boss with close links to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Neapolitan Camorra</a>.</p>
<p>Durham refuses to say how much Imperiale paid for the paintings, but Imperiale is the one who held onto the works of art until September of 2016 when he offered them up to Italian authorities in exchange for lowering his prison sentence. Prosecutors initially recommended Imperiale to be sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, but he managed to negotiate an 8-year reduction. He has yet to serve a day of his sentence as he remains a fugitive, living a life of luxury in Dubai.</p>
<p>Life wasn’t so sweet for Durham, though. When police are hot on his tail he manages to flee to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a> where he eventually runs into Patrick Kluivert, star player of FC Barcelona. The two men knew each other from the old neighborhood back in Amsterdam.</p>
<p>Durham tells Kluivert he is staying at a hotel and Kluivert asks him to crash with him at his mansion instead. The fugitive art thief is hesitant and tells Kluivert he is on the run from police and his presence might cause Kluivert some unwanted media attention. The Barcelona striker is dismissive however, telling “Okkie” he is in the media every day anyway. (<strong>See the video clip below in which Durham tells the Kluivert story himself.</strong>)</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iYomm-EQzSA?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>Kluivert denies Durham’s story and has filed a defamation suit against the burglar. The documentary makers say they have two other sources that confirm Durham’s stay at Kluivert’s Barcelona residence.</p>
<p>Durham, who was so worried about Kluivert getting bad press back in the day, now apparently has no issue throwing him under the bus. This despite the fact he considers him a “great guy.”</p>
<p>Unremorseful and proud, Durham is now enjoying his 15 minutes of fame as the star of his own documentary, a guest on primetime talk shows, and the father of a female artist signed to one of the Netherlands’ biggest record labels.</p>
<p>It makes one doubt the saying that crime does not pay.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Italian police bust drug trafficking Camorra clan and retrieve stolen Van Gogh paintings worth $100 million
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/italian-police-bust-drug-trafficking-camorra-clan-and-retrieve-st
2017-03-21T11:30:00.000Z
2017-03-21T11:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-bust-drug-trafficking-camorra-clan-and-retrieve-st" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237075900,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237075900?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Police in Italy scored a nice bonus this week when they busted a Neapolitan Camorra clan and recovered two stolen paintings from Vincent van Gogh worth $100 million in the process. The paintings of the Dutch master had been stolen in Amsterdam in 2002 and were missing ever since. Beside the painting, authorities seized tens of millions in cash and property from the clan led by boss Raffaele Imperiale.</p>
<p>Imperiale’s mob operated on an international scale, involved in large scale cocaine trafficking and investing their ill-gotten gains in properties in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Dubai">Dubai</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain">Spain</a>, and the Isle of Man. Imperiale works closely with the Amato-Pagano clan in the infamous <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scampia">Scampia</a> neighborhood in Naples, the place where much of the acclaimed movie and television series <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gomorra">Gomorra</a> is filmed.</p>
<p>His shrewd business sense and charming personality made Imperiale (photo above) the perfect leader of an international drug trafficking organization. He arranged trustworthy couriers and travelers, cultivated relationships from Venzuela to Peru and smuggled hundreds of kilos of cocaine to Camorra clans in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Naples">Naples</a>.</p>
<p>Being the smart businessmen that they are, Imperiale and his partners decided to invest a portion of their drug proceeds in two paintings of Dutch expressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. The paintings in question were: The Beach At Scheveningen During A Storm - made in 1882 - and Congregation Leaving The Reformed Church of Neunen – made between 1884 and 1885. These were not just some regular pieces either, these were highly valued at $100 million. Furthermore, they were hot! Hot, as in stolen.</p>
<p>Thieves had stolen the two masterpieces in a daring burglary in December of 2002, when they broke into the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. A Dutch court convicted two men, Octave D. and Henk B., of the crime and sentenced them to over 3 years in prison and a fine of €350,000 euro to the Dutch government, which officially owned the paintings.</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-math-calculating-italian-organized-crime-s-illicit-income">Mafia Math: Calculating Italian organized crime's illicit income</a></strong></p>
<p>At first, both men adamantly denied having anything to do with the crime and claimed to have been set up. A baseball cap and woolen hat containing DNA of the two men was found left behind at the museum after the burglary. Their lawyers claim that the true perpetrators planted these to throw investigators off their trail. </p>
<p>The next fourteen years, there was no sign of the two paintings. Until police busted Imperiale’s trafficking organization and managed to flip Mario Cerrone, one of his close associates, who told them about the hidden treasure and various other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra">Camorra</a> Mafia secrets.</p>
<p>Investigators found the two paintings in a safe in a house in the beautiful seaside town of Castellammare di Stabia, near Pompeii. They were wrapped in cloth with their frame removed. This was possibly done by the thieves to make smuggling of the pieces easier. An Italian expert told the media today that the paintings appeared in reasonably good condition.</p>
<p>Imperiale, meanwhile, is a fugitive hiding out in Dubai, where he stays at expensive villas and $1,500-a-night hotel rooms, enjoying the multi-million-dollar fruits of his illicit labor.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE March 22, 2017:</strong> One of the burglars later admitted his guilt and even told <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi" target="_blank">his side of the story</a> on Dutch television to reporters of news show <em>Brandpunt</em>. The journalists also gave insight into how the paintings were eventually retrieved.</p>
<p>Imperiale had <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi" target="_blank">used the paintings</a> as a bargaining chip to shave years off his prison sentence for narcotics trafficking. In a signed letter to Italian authorities, Imperiale admitted running a drug ring and gave the location of the stolen Van Goghs. In return his sentence (in absentia) was lowered from 20 years to 12. He continues to reside in Dubai as a fugitive.</p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Camorra still possesses stolen Rembrandt, art hunters say – Could Boston heist painting have ended up in Italy?
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-still-possesses-stolen-rembrandt-art-hunters-say-could-bo
2016-10-05T11:30:00.000Z
2016-10-05T11:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-still-possesses-stolen-rembrandt-art-hunters-say-could-bo" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237076673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237076673?profile=original" width="509" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The Neapolitan Camorra still possesses a stolen Rembrandt painting, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported today. The daily paper talked to looted art hunter Arthur Brand and private detective Sander van Betten, both men claim the missing Rembrandt piece “remains hidden at one of the many hundreds of secret stash houses in and around Naples.”</p>
<p>Brand and Van Betten were tipped off by an underworld source, who told them about three stolen paintings, two Van Goghs and one Rembrandt. The two investigators immediately knew which Van Goghs, but it is harder to determine which painting of Rembrandt is in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra">Camorra</a>’s possession as several of his paintings are currently listed as stolen.</p>
<p>Last week, Italian authorities <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-bust-drug-trafficking-camorra-clan-and-retrieve-st">found two stolen Van Gogh paintings</a> in a house owned by the Camorra. Its owner is alleged to be fugitive Camorra drug boss Raffaele Imperiale, who is currently holed up in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Dubai">Dubai</a>.</p>
<p>The reason both Brand and Van Betten are pretty determined that Imperiale and his Camorra group own a stolen Rembrandt as well, is because Imperiale was in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam">Amsterdam</a> during the time of the heist at the Van Gogh Museum - He ran several <em>coffeeshops</em> (legal marijuana stores) in the Dutch city.</p>
<p>According to their underworld source, Imperiale was very worried about having the stolen paintings in his possession and was eager to get rid of them, offering them to buyers at a discount. “These kind of works are like a hot potato,” Brand <a href="http://www.telegraaf.nl/premium/reportage/26743104/__Ook_Rembrandt_in_bezit_maffia__.html" target="_blank">told De Telegraaf</a>. “You can’t sell this type of art and can only use it as bond during drug or weapon transactions. And Imperiale didn’t even do that.”</p>
<p>Though it is difficult to determine exactly which Rembrandt the Camorra possesses, it is interesting to note that several Rembrandt paintings were stolen in a heist that is connected to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">American Mafia</a>.</p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-3">The $500 million dollar Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist in Boston</span></strong></p>
<p>On March 18, 1990, thieves perpetrated the largest private property theft in history, making off with thirteen stolen art works worth $500 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It was a well-planned and perfectly executed heist. The two thieves dressed up as police officers and were let into the museum by the security guards. They then spent a long hour plundering the museum.</p>
<p>No one has ever been charged with the burglary, but authorities have long had their eyes on members of the American Mafia, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN">La Cosa Nostra</a>. At first they eyed Robert Donati, a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">Patriarcia crime family</a> of New England, which rules <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boston">Boston</a>, but Donati was murdered in 1991 as a result of a mob war in Boston.</p>
<p>After Donati’s death, the art haul passed on from one mobster to the next with no one willing or able to get rid of the $500-million-dollar loot. As Brand said, a hot potato indeed. As each wiseguy was sent off to prison or the afterlife, authorities say the art collection eventually fell into the lap of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gentile">Robert “Bobby the Cook” Gentile</a>, an aging mobster from Hartford, Connecticut, who was made into the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-crime-family">Philadelphia crime family</a> and was part of its New England crew.</p>
<p>As their suspicions rose, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI">FBI</a> raided Gentile’s home in 2012 and discovered a hand-written list of each of the stolen pieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum accompanied with their estimated values on the black market.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that was all they found. The raid turned up none of the stolen artwork and Gentile remained silent about his criminal dealings and possible involvement.</p>
<p>Of course, that is not to say Gentile did not discuss the stolen art at all. Talking to a confidential informant who was wearing a recording device, Gentile said he had access to two paintings stolen during the Boston heist, one of them a Rembrandt. He offered the piece for $500,000 or more.</p>
<p>Could it be this Rembrandt painting that Dutch looted art hunters now think is in possession of the Neapolitan Camorra? Probably not. But if not this one, perhaps one of the other Rembrandt pieces that were stolen that night in 1990.</p>
<p>The American Mafia and the Mafia groups in Italy have always maintained close links, when possible. It is not unlikely that someone “knew a guy” who himself “knew another guy” who perhaps “knew a guy who would be interested.”</p>
<p>Little did that guy realize the trouble he would find himself in after buying such a hot potato.</p>
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Tourists ‘evicted’ from Camorra Mafia villa they rented for summer vacation
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/tourists-evicted-from-camorra-mafia-villa-they-rented-for-summer
2016-08-08T16:01:41.000Z
2016-08-08T16:01:41.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/tourists-evicted-from-camorra-mafia-villa-they-rented-for-summer"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237074670,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237074670?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>It was to be the perfect summer holiday. A group of tourists doled out some cash and rented a beautiful villa in the charming village of Ischia in the picturesque Bay of Naples. As they enjoyed their life of leisure and luxury in the sun they were shocked to find police at their door, telling them to leave immediately.</p>
<p>It turns out, Italian news agency <a href="http://www.ansa.it" target="_blank">ANSA</a> reported today, the tourists had rented a villa that had been seized in 2011 from the Giuliano clan of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>, one of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Italy">Italy</a>’s four criminal organizations.</p>
<p>The Giuliano clan is one of the oldest and most powerful <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra">Camorra</a> families, rising to power in the 1950s. Its base of operations is located in the city center of Naples, from the Forcella and San Gaetano districts to Maddalena.</p>
<p>Several wars - including two internal feuds - have weakened the family which helped authorities to arrest many members and associates and confiscate many of their riches, including a lavish villa that is ideal for a summer getaway.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for the tourists, police were adamant and their <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-mafia-travel-guide-reveals-island-s-underworld">vacation</a> was cut short. Seeing that it was labeled as a “Mafia asset” it could not be rented out. Other tourists in the area could be in for a rude awakening as well, police are currently checking other confiscated houses and villas in the region as well.</p>
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Italian police continue crackdown on Camorra in Naples
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/italian-police-continue-crackdown-on-camorra-in-naples
2016-02-22T15:30:00.000Z
2016-02-22T15:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-continue-crackdown-on-camorra-in-naples"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237061458,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237061458?profile=original" width="500" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Police in Naples are dealing blow after blow to the region’s Camorra clans. Last week they arrested boss Domenico Ferrara (photo above) and several of his lieutenants, while today, Carabinieri arrested 21 people and seized 35 kilograms of cocaine and 2 kilos of hashish. Police said the cocaine would have netted €2 million euros if it had been sold.</p>
<p>The arrest, last Thursday night, of Domenico Ferrara involved 150 police officers. Around 22:00h, Ferrara, high-ranking lieutenants Vittorio Amato and Rocco Ruocco, together with four others clan members sat down to watch a football match on the television.</p>
<p>Patiently waiting until all guests had arrived, police surrounded the clan's compound in Villaricca, on the outskirts of Naples, and pounced, placing all men under arrest. They have been charged with extortion.</p>
<p>Nicknamed “Mimi 'or muccuso,” Domenico Ferrara’s clan controlled the area in and around Villaricca. He became somewhat famous in Italy after investigators seized more than hundred cell phones which, they claimed, were used to rig the call-in voting on a television talent show in which his daughter was a contestant.</p>
<p>The new extortion charges are much more serious, however, showcasing how the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a> terrorizes and sucks dry honest businessmen. “If you do not want to sell the store you have to give [Ferrara] €230,000 euros,” one of Ferrara’s soldiers was heard saying when he threatened one such businessman, a lawyer.</p>
<p>As news of the arrest hit the news, Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano called the arrest of Ferrara a “hard hit” to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>. “It's always good news to know that little by little we're driving out the many local bosses, in order to weaken organized crime more and more,” he said. “It's not only a victory for the State but also a relief for honest citizens.”</p>
<p>Alfano had recently <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/250-troops-deployed-to-naples-to-halt-camorra-violence">deployed 250 soldiers</a> to Naples to help stop the violence between Camorra clans. While the troops patrol the streets, police are doing an excellent job busting up the various criminal operations run by the Camorra.</p>
<p>Last week, Italian police <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-raid-camorra-mafia-run-coke-lab-near-naples">raided a cocaine refining laboratory</a> in a town south of Naples, arresting five people including two members of the Camorra and three Colombian nationals. They found 7 kilos of cocaine paste and 20 liters of a coke-based liquid that would have been worth 3 million euros on the street once processed.</p>
<p>And today, they seized even more drugs in an operation in Marano, near Naples, where they found 35 kilograms of cocaine at the home of one of the suspects and 2 kilograms of hashish in the home of another suspect.</p>
<p>It’s the police’s way of saying “Basta!” to the Camorra.</p>
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Camorra mobster gets life in prison for murder of drug dealer
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-mobster-gets-life-in-prison-for-murder-of-drug-dealer
2015-12-17T20:06:36.000Z
2015-12-17T20:06:36.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-mobster-gets-life-in-prison-for-murder-of-drug-dealer"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237058052,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237058052?profile=original" width="500" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Camorra gangster Giuseppe De Filippis (photo above, left) was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for the 2014 murder of a Nigerian drug dealer in the town of Mondragone. The trial of De Filippis shed light on how the local Camorra is outsourcing some of its rackets to emerging foreign groups.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237058083,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237058083?profile=original" width="236" /></a>De Filippis is a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-augusto-la-torre">Camorra clan in Mondragone</a>, made (in)famous in Roberto Saviano’s book Gomorra. As is usual in Italy, this clan dominated organized crime in the area, collecting extortion payments and dealing drugs.</p>
<p>When it came to the drug trade, however, they were very “hands-off.” They acted as wholesalers and distributed the drugs to local African gangsters who worked the street corners. The Africans were free to do whatever they wanted as long as they bought their drugs from the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>.</p>
<p>It didn’t take long for an enterprising kingpin named Edokpa Gowin, nicknamed Nokia, to think he had acquired enough power to take a stand against the mob. He was wrong.</p>
<p>In May of 2014, police found a burnt out car in the countryside of Villa Literno. Inside was the charred body of Gowin. Once, he acted as an integral part of the Camorra in Mondragone. Now, he had been dealt with like so many other low-level mobsters who wanted more than their bosses were willing to give.</p>
<p>Camorra hitman Nino Capaldo (photo above, on the right) is all too familiar with such a life. In court he recounted how he was ordered to murder Gowin because the Nigerian had cornered a piece of the market. “[Giuseppe De Filippis] told me to shoot and I shot him,” he testified.</p>
<p>Yesterday, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for obeying De Filippis’ deadly order.</p>
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Profile of Camorra mob boss Pasquale “Lino” Sibillo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/fugitive-camorra-boss-pasquale-sibillo-captured
2015-11-05T09:00:00.000Z
2015-11-05T09:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fugitive-camorra-boss-pasquale-sibillo-captured" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237047088,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237047088?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Police in Italy captured fugitive Camorra mob boss Pasquale “Lino” Sibillo, yesterday. He had been wanted since June after evading his arrest on charges of murder, drug trafficking, and Mafia association. Authorities claim he is one of the men behind a violent gang war bloodying the streets of Naples.</p>
<p>24-year-old Sibillo was arrested at an apartment in the center of the Umbrian town of Terni, located nearly 300 kilometers north of Naples. Agents of Squadra mobile di Napoli busted through his door in an operation coordinated by Italy’s Antimafia bureau. The arrest earned all officials involved high praise from Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who tweeted his thanks to police and prosecutors.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237047876,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237047876?profile=original" width="510" /></a>Naples’ underworld has undergone a seismic change in recent years. After many of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>’s senior bosses were <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-s-sistema-rules-supreme-in-politically-corrupt-italy">murdered or arrested</a>, the younger generation took over to fill the power vacuum. Lacking experience and knowledge but brimming with ambition, fearlessness, and itchy trigger fingers, these youngsters quickly went to war with each other.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237048096,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237048096?profile=original" width="220" /></a>Just like their senior predecessors had done before.</p>
<p>Together with his 19-year-old brother Emanuele, Pasquale Sibillo (right) ruled the Forcella neighborhood in Naples, once sole territory of the notorious Giuliano clan. Both brothers were the main targets of Operation “Camorra dei bimbi” - Camorra of the children – which led to the arrest of over 60 people for extortion, drug trafficking, and murder.</p>
<p>During their fight for control of drug distribution territory in the neighborhood, violence flared up. On July 2, Sibillo’s younger brother Emmanuele was assassinated by rivals. His death sent Pasquale into a bloody rage. Prosecutors allege he murdered Salvatore D'Alpino and Luigi Galletta and wounded Sabatino Cardarelli on July 31 in retaliation for the murder of Emmanuele.</p>
<p>Now, Pasquale Sibillo sits in a cell. He avenged his brother, allegedly. But his revenge will never bring Emmanuele back. Meanwhile, the war on the streets continues. There will be more deaths, more blood, and much more sorrow.</p>
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Profile of Camorra boss Aldo Gionta
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cross-dressing-fugitive-mafia-boss-arrested
2014-08-19T13:00:00.000Z
2014-08-19T13:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cross-dressing-fugitive-mafia-boss-arrested"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237031492,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237031492?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>As a fugitive you have to be creative to remain a free man. Even when that means dressing up as a woman every now and then. Just ask 42-year-old Camorra boss Aldo Gionta.</p>
<p>This past Saturday, Gionta was arrested by plain clothes policemen at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo as he tried to board a ferry for Malta using false papers. Agents found €1,000.- in his pockets. A man and two women who <a href="http://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237032071,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237032071?profile=original" width="278" /></a>were accompanying Gionta were also placed under arrest. All four are now in a prison in Syracuse, Sicily. It is unknown whether Gionta was planning on staying in Malta or only using it as a short stop on his way to North Africa.</p>
<p>Gionta is the leader of the Torre Annunziata clan of Sant’Antonio Abate. A Naples clan that was founded by his father, Valentino Gionta (right), who is currently in prison under the 41-bis law, which is reserved for Italy's most dangerous gangsters. He was convicted of ordering the murder of journalist Giancarlo Siani.</p>
<p>Most of Valentino’s relatives were arrested in a huge anti-Mafia operation in November of 2008 targeting the Torre Annunziata clan in Naples. Around 80 clan members were charged with mafia association, murder, extortion, and drug trafficking. Among them was Aldo Gionta, then 36.</p>
<p>Italian prosecutors indicated that the clan made € 170,000 per day from trafficking drugs alone and that the Gionta clan is among Italy’s most prolific narcotics smugglers. Authorities seized € 80 million worth of properties consisting of 11 companies operating in the construction sector, sportswear, and wholesale seafood products, 63 apartments, cars, and personal items of significant value such as gold jewelry.</p>
<p>Locked up with nowhere to go, Gionta continued to be a wiseguy through and through. In various letters he sent while behind bars in the Opera prison in Milan, Gionta turned to his son Valentino, Jr., urging him to “learn to shoot with a Kalashnikov, then I'll tell you what to do.” And that his son had to “be smart, attentive to bugs. And not afford to do anything without my permission.”</p>
<p>While awaiting a verdict in his trial, Gionta, surprisingly enough, was allowed to go outside. A very lenient judge was sympathetic to Gionta’s pleas that he regretted his decisions in life. While Italy has cracked down on the Mafia it has left its <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime">various criminal organizations</a> plenty of opportunities to get away with their age old business of racketeering and gangsterism. So, the judge gave Gionta a little bit more wiggle room.</p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237032090,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237032090?profile=original" width="200" /></a>It couldn’t have come as a huge surprise when Gionta (right) did not come in when he was ordered to. Italian authorities had yet another Mafia fugitive on their hands. And as one <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-bernardo">Bernardo Provenzano</a> showed, those <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-matteo">guys</a> can play hide and seek like no one else.</p>
<p>Running from the police, Gionta wore wigs and dressed in women's clothing to avoid capture. An unusual move for an Italian <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a> boss. Yet it’s not something that hasn’t been done before. Infamous Dutch crime boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/dutch-crime-boss-murdered-in">Stanley Hillis</a> once fled the scene after a robbery by dressing up as a woman.</p>
<p>Now before you start questioning the manhood of either Gionta or Hillis, know that Hillis was considered the Netherlands’ top mob boss feared by many. He was also a partner in crime of Serbian warlord Arkan. Not someone you tell to his face that he acts like a… well, bitch.</p>
<p>The same goes for Gionta. You can’t lead a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a> clan based on your father’s name alone. The hundreds of murders in and around Naples these past few years have proven that.</p>
<p>Still, many experts consider the cross-dressing another sign of the new school Mafia replacing the old school. The times they are a-changing, as Bob Dylan once sang.</p>
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Camorra’s
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-s-sistema-rules-supreme-in-politically-corrupt-italy
2014-06-05T11:00:00.000Z
2014-06-05T11:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-s-sistema-rules-supreme-in-politically-corrupt-italy"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237021301,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237021301?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p><em>“I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.”</em> – Fictional mob boss Frank Costello in The Departed</p>
<p>It’s a quote befitting of the situation in Italy, which is one drenched in Mafia intimidation, corruption, and malpractice. It’s also the topic of accusations between (former) members of the Camorra, Naples’ Mafia organization, and Italian politicians, who are asking each other the question: Who created this corrupt mess?</p>
<p>According to Camorra boss-turned-<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">pentito</a> Antonio Iovine organized crime in and around Naples was able to prosper because of widespread corruption in the local political system. “There was money for everyone in a system that was completely corrupt,” Iovine told investigators last month. “It made no difference what political side a mayor came from because the system operated, and operates, in the same way.” He continues, “I'm well aware of the crimes that I've stained myself with. But I'm explaining to you a system in which the Camorra is not the only one to blame.”</p>
<p>Nice of him to accept at least part of the blame, no?</p>
<p>50-year-old Antonio Iovine knows all about guilt and blame. For decades he was one of the top leaders of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-casalesi-clan-of-the">Casalesi Clan of the Camorra</a>, a group from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta. Nicknamed “o’ninno” (the baby) because he was made a capo at a very young age Iovine was a force to be reckoned with inside the Camorra. As always with organized crime, Iovine’s strength lay in his clan. In their fight for control the various crime families of the Casalesi were responsible for over 1,000 murders in 30 years.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/casalesi-clan">The families of the Casalesi</a> were involved in all sorts of criminal activity, but they specifically exerted great control over the construction industry. Of course, construction is, by itself, a legitimate business with many honest and hardworking businessmen at its core. Men who are in frequent contact with politicians and civil servants about permits, licenses, and the needs of a city.</p>
<p>But, if you believe Iovine, many of those businessmen and politicians were very eager to cooperate with the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a> to fill their pockets with cash. Some even became more than partners.</p>
<p>Then again, some of those accused politicians are quick to point out the Camorra’s violent reputation as a tool for mobsters to get their way. They were mere victims of a ruthless Mafia organization. Lorenzo Diana, for instance, was named by Iovine as one of those corrupt local politicians, he claims “there was nothing we could do, the Camorra dominated things, Iovine has discovered hot water.”</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1mdNRj4" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237022456,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237022456?profile=original" width="165" /></a>After spending 15 years as a fugitive Antonio Iovine (right) was captured by police in November of 2010. In absentia he had been sentenced to life in prison for racketeering and several murders. He had been languishing away in prison under the prison regime titled article 41-bis, which is reserved for Italy’s most dangerous gangsters and criminals.</p>
<p>Behind bars Iovine made the stunning decision to become a pentito, a turncoat or cooperating witness. He wants to repent and tell all he knows about the Camorra’s criminal empire and its contacts in business and politics.</p>
<p>While Camorristi and shady politicians are still reeling from the news and possible consequences life in Italy continues as always. After numerous trials involving corrupt political bigwigs Iovine will have to do dish up a lot more dirt if he wants to shock Italian citizens. The story of political corruption and Mafia influence has become a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-state-trial-exposes-italy-s-corrupt-political-system">very familiar one</a>.</p>
<p>As recent as yesterday, Roberto Vargas, yet another Camorra turncoat, <a href="http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/04/informant-says-berlusconi-ex-undersecretary-cosa-nostra_3b8841c2-a232-45e3-a5b6-08d5b0474d67.html" target="_blank">testified</a> that politician Nicola Cosentino, a former undersecretary to three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, was in fact a member of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview">Cosa Nostra</a>. He also said that Cosentino had met with Casalesi boss Francesco “Sandokan” Schiavone to talk about contracts and politics. Furthermore, he pointed out the politician as the one who accepted bribes on behalf of other construction companies.</p>
<p>Cosentino, meanwhile, was arrested back in April and charged with extortion and unfair competition in favor of his family’s petrol-pump business in southern Campania. A year ago he was also arrested on suspicion of collusion with the Casalesi Clan.</p>
<p>People in Naples call it <em>‘o sistema</em>. It’s when the Camorra works in unison with corrupt politicians and businessmen to create an environment which fits their needs. Those who want to change or influence the system can only do so by becoming a participant themselves. They need to play along according to the rules of the system. Those that oppose and try to change or fight the system will be dealt with.</p>
<p>After journalist Roberto Saviano released <a href="http://amzn.to/1mdNRj4" target="_blank">Gomorra</a>, his best-selling indictment of <em>‘o sistema</em>, he became an instant target. Camorra hit men were tasked with finding and murdering him. Life as he knew it was over. Never again could he sleep peacefully. The system had spit him out for exposing its <a href="http://amzn.to/SwSWuZ" target="_blank">dirty</a> secrets.</p>
<p>Saviano later told reporters that his book had ruined his life. He said he could have exposed the Camorra's criminal empire “with the same commitment and courage but with prudence, without destroying everything. I was too impetuous, too ambitious.”</p>
<p>Still, with his life in ruins and with his good intentions cast aside, a civil appeals court in Milan yesterday upheld the libel conviction of Saviano for defamatory statements in his 2006 <a href="http://amzn.to/1mdNRj4" target="_blank">book</a>. “The appeals court confirmed the November ruling of a lower court that Saviano must pay 30,000 euros in damages to Enzo Boccolato for insinuating involvement in the La Torre clan,” newspaper <a href="http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/94806/Appeals-court-upholds-Saviano-conviction-for-libel.html#.U49D45p7vJA.twitter" target="_blank">Gazetta Del Sud reported</a>. According to the ruling, “the statements contained in the book are objectively offensive, and the veracity of the news was not proven, in the evocative way that emerges from the sentences of the published text.”</p>
<p>Justice has prevailed after all.</p>
<p>The only question now is whether or not justice can also break the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-state-trial-exposes-italy-s-corrupt-political-system">corrupt system</a> which has been running things in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime">large parts of Italy</a> for so long now. Because in the end it doesn’t really matter who created the mess. It matters most who cleans it up and makes sure it doesn’t happen again.</p>
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Spain: Sunny beaches and lots of organized crime
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/spain-sunny-beaches-and-lots-of-organized-crime
2011-09-02T09:00:00.000Z
2011-09-02T09:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/spain-sunny-beaches-and-lots-of-organized-crime"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237009053,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237009053?profile=original" width="500" /></a>By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> Spain has always been a favorite destination for tourists because of its beautiful culture and warm climate. But organized crime gangs have also become fond of the country, mixing their pleasure with some serious business. In recent years, Spanish authorities have taken notice and started a campaign to rid their historic cities and sunny beaches of the newly arrived gangsters and Mafiosi.<br /> <br /> In what can only be described as a blitz, Spain’s Guardia Civil broke down two large criminal groups in one day. Working closely with Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) they arrested thirteen people involved in the smuggling and dealing of cocaine and ecstasy on the party island of Ibiza. Ten were from the United Kingdom, two from the Republic of Ireland, while one was from Poland. <br /> <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237009080,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237009080,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237009080?profile=original" width="340" /></a>The gang would come to Ibiza during the summer to supply the island’s party crowd with drugs, a routine they repeated several years. But their drugs were not always of good quality. “Police said the majority of the pills found were branded as Pink Rock Star, similar to those believed to have caused the death of a young British woman and the poisoning of eight other people in Ibiza in July”, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14751688" target="_blank">BBC News reports</a>. <br /> <br /> According to the Guardia Civil, “The detainees are members of one of the most active gangs on the island, the main supplier of cocaine and other designer drugs in the vicinity of nightclubs and entertainment venues.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Italian Mafia involved in drugs, money laundering, and real estate</strong><br /> <br /> Spanish police also busted sixty members and associates of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>, an Italian Mafia group from Naples. Authorities claim the Camorra specialized in “the introduction, distribution and sale” of drugs, especially cocaine and ketamine. Twenty-two properties were searched during raids, leading to the seizure of 1,950 tablets of ecstasy, 700 grams of hashish, 600 grams of speed, and 260 grams cocaine. The group invested their ill gotten wealth in real estate and businesses across Spain. <br /> <br /> Italian police had warned their Spanish colleagues about the new “tourists” from Naples and an investigation quickly commenced. The Camorra members chose to settle in Spain and start up their new business there because of the prosecutions they faced back in Italy, where authorities had turned up the heat, arresting numerous “most wanted” Mafiosi. The names or origin of the arrested Camorra members are, at the time of writing this piece, still unknown. <br /> </p>
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Puparo's History of the Camorra
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/puparos-history-of-the-camorra
2011-06-01T11:30:00.000Z
2011-06-01T11:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/puparos-history-of-the-camorra"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236999685,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236999685?profile=original" width="460" /></a>The text and chapters below have been collected and written by Puparo. Any new information is much appreciated and can be left in the comments.<br /> <br /> <span class="font-size-3"><strong>Chapters:</strong></span><br /> </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Early Camorra History</strong> (scroll to bottom)</li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-fueds">Camorra Fueds</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-and-the">Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Napolitan Nuvoletta Clan</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nuovo-famiglia-extermination">Nuovo Famiglia Extermination of Cutolo Supporters</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/secondigliano-and-scampia">Secondigliano and Scampia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/di-lauro-clan">Di Lauro Clan</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/giuliano-family">Giuliano Family</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/santa-lucia-boss-michele-zaza">Santa Lucia Boss Michele Zaza</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/casalesi-clan">Casalesi Clan</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/naples-inner-city-war">Naples Inner City War</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/rest-material">Rest Material</a></li>
</ul>
<p><br /> <span class="font-size-3"><strong>Early Camorra History:</strong></span><br /> <br /> Early bosses were the brothers Antonio Spavone and Carmine Spavone and Nicola CAPUANO<br /> 3 January 1945 Carmine Spavone died in a duel with Giovanni Mormone. Carmine Spavone’s brother Antonio Spavone (18) revenged the murder by killing in april 1945 Giovanni Mormone in a restaurant in Marechiaro. Antonio Spavone got 20 years for the murder but came free in 1966.<br /> <br /> Antonio Spavone<br /> In 1971 killed Antonio Spavone the man Gennaro Ferrigno<br /> <br /> Naples disappearancecase Pasqualino Simonetti<br /> In january 1974 goes Maresca’s zoon Pasqualino Simonetti (18) to an appointment with Ammaturo on the buildingside of a viaduct there Ammaturo and Antonio Spavone kill him and have his body disappaer.<br /> <br /> In the 50ties were the big camorra bosses: Antonio Spavone “‘O malommo”, Pasquale Simonetti “Pascalone ‘e Nola” and Vito Nappi “O studente”.<br /> <br /> Charlie “Lucky” Luciano in Naples<br /> In 1950 the exiled american Cosa Nostra boss Charlie "Lucky" Luciano settles in Naples and one of his friends is Mario Siniscalchi the camorra boss of Quindici.<br /> <br /> Charlie “Lucky” Luciano in Naples<br /> 13 November 1950 Luciano gets smacked in the face on the Agnano race track of Naples by Vittorio Nappi. Nappi gets later than his skull cracked by his ex partner Pasquale Simonetti “Pascalone”, Nappi survives.<br /> <br /> Camorra boss Vito Nappi “O studente”<br /> 20 january 1953 disappeared Battipaglia’s socialist mayor Lorenzo Rago. His brother is Fiorentino Rago. Vito Nappi was suspected in the disappearing of the mayor. 11 march 1959 was Francesco Scibilia sentenced to 2 years and 6 months for slander because he had accused Salvatore Lucania (Lucky Luciano), Andrea Ingoglia and Vincenzo Paolicchio of the disappearance of Battipaglia’s socialist mayor Lorenzo Rago.<br /> <br /> Nola camorra boss Pasquale Simonetti “Pascalone e Nola” killed<br /> 16 july 1955 camorra boss Pasquale Simonetti “Pascalone e Nola” gets shot down by Gaetano Orlando “Tanino ’e bastimento” (the son of a former Marano mayor) at the command of his friend Antonio Esposito and he dies several weeks later.<br /> <br /> Nola camorra boss Simonetti revenged by his widow Pupetta Maresca<br /> camorraboss Pasquale Simonetti “Pascalone e Nola” his widow Pupetta Maresca (18 and pregnant) then personally shoots and kills 4 august 1955 Antonio Esposito, she was accompanied by her brother Ciro Maresca and their chauffeur Nicola Vistocco.<br /> <br /> Nola camorra boss Simonetti’s widow Pupetta Maresca arrested<br /> Pupetta Maresca was then 14 october 1955 arrested by police.<br /> <br /> Cutoliano capo Giovanni Pandico<br /> Giovanni Pandico (born 24 june 1944) was initiated 8 december 1963 by Cutolo into the camorra.<br /> <br /> Michele Nappi killed<br /> Giovanni Pandico became friends with Giorgio Della Pietra (who got convicted of the 3 april 1956 murder of Michele Nappi and got 24 years).<br /> <br /> Luigi “the tomb” !!!SORRENTINO!!<br /> US deportee Luigi Sorrentino was in Italy accused of a role in an Italian murdergang. 30 January 1961 dies Luigi “the tomb” Sorrentino (who once escaped the electric chair at Sing Sing prison) of a heart attack in jail in NAPLES (Italy) with his appeal against a life sentence still pending.<br /> <br /> (in 1970 Badalamenti ordina a Salvatore Zara (ZAZA ?? ??), un camorrista napoletano affiliato a Cosa nostra, di uccidere un uomo che sul finire degli anni cinquanta si è reso responsabile di un oltraggio nei confronti del famoso Lucky Luciano, espulso dagli USA e da poco residente a Napoli. Luciano è schiaffeggiato all'ippodromo di Agnano da un esuberante guappo in vena di esibizionismo. L'offesa, seppure con molti anni di ritardo, è lavata e Badalamenti, «fiero» di aver ordinato l'assassinio, si precipita a far sapere negli USA quanto è appena accaduto (51).<br /> <br /> Cutoliano capo Giovanni Pandico<br /> Giovanni Pandico concluded that his own father and mother, Liveri mayor Nicola Nappi and his brother Salvatore Nappi (brothers of the killed Michele Nappi) had conspired and testified to have Giorgio Della Pietra convicted. Giovanni Pandico decides to take revenge and two days after Giovanni Pandico was released from Poggioreale prison (18 june 1970) he went to Liveri’s City Hall to kill mayor Nicola Nappi. In City Hall Pandico murders city super visor Giuseppe Gaetano and clerk Guido Adrianopoli and shot and wounded mayor Nicola Nappi and Pasquale Scola. Giuseppe Pandico got 30 years and became in prison Cutolo’s secretary.<br /> <br /> Cutolo's NCO man Giovanni Pandico<br /> In 1982 Andrea Pandico de brother of Giovanni Pandico gets shot to death during an ambush. Andrea Pandico's widow Filomena Schiavone gets killed in 1983? at his grave by Alfredo Guarneri at the command of Giovanni Pandico because she had a member of Nuova Famiglia as a lover.<br /> <br /> 21 march 1983 Giovanni Pandico became pentito<br /> <br /> Murdercase Giovanni Pandico's mother Francesca Muroni<br /> 31 May 1985 a carbomb kills Giovanni Pandico's mother Francesca Muroni (65) and wounds seriously his sister in law Gisella Gioberti, his brother Nicola Pandico is unhurt.</p>
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Genovese Family Soldier Arrested in Italy
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-family-soldier
2010-11-21T19:14:11.000Z
2010-11-21T19:14:11.000Z
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<div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on July 30, 2010<br /><br /> A Genovese Crime Family soldier was arrested yesterday in Sorrento, Italy. Mobster Emilio Fusco (42) is wanted in the United States where he is charged with extortion and two gang land murders in Springfield, Massachusetts. While his associates were being arraigned in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Fusco was nowhere to be found.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236987492,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Federal authorities already suspected Fusco, who is an Italian citizen, might be hiding in Italy. In their man hunt, the FBI asked for the help and assistance of Interpol and the Italian police. After staking out several possible hide outs and shadowing friends and relatives of the fugitive, Italian police managed to locate him in Sorrento, a small coastal city in the Campania region approximately 30 miles from Naples. Fusco (right) is originally from this area and had no trouble blending in. When police arrested Fusco they found he had 10,000 dollars and 10,000 euros in cash on him.<br /> <br /> According to the indictment, Fusco is a made member of the Genovese Crime Family in New York and participated in extortion, loansharking, operation of illegal gambling businesses, and narcotics trafficking. Furthermore, authorities say he was involved in the gang land executions of Genovese capo, and Springfield mob boss, Adolfo Bruno and mob associate Gary Westerman.<br /> <br /> Adolfo Bruno (57) was shot seven times in a parking lot outside the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society in Springfield’s South End on November 23, 2003. Authorities claim Bruno’s murder was the result of a power play. The hit was plotted by members of his own crew, chief among them Anthony Arillotta, who was labeled as Bruno’s successor. Genovese Acting Boss Arthur Nigro had allegedly given permission for the hit.<br /> <br /> The government has two major witnesses against Nigro – and Fusco, who was part of the murder conspiracy. The first is triggerman Frank Roche. Roche faced the death penalty if he was convicted of murder and decided to become a government witness instead. He told investigators that he was paid 10,000 dollars to assassinate Bruno. Roche was told the Springfield mob boss had to be killed because he was a weak leader and a suspected government informant and that the leaders of the Genovese Family in New York had given permission for the hit.<br /> <br /> The other witness is Anthony Arillotta, who quickly turned state’s evidence after his arrest in February. Arillotta was the man who set the whole plan in motion by seeking permission for the hit from the bosses in New York. Apparently he did not want to spend the rest of his life behind bars. After becoming a witness, he gave the FBI information about a lengthy list of mob crimes, including the location of the remains of mob associate and drug dealer Gary Westerman. Arillotta fingered Fusco as being a part of the group which plotted Westerman’s murder. With Fusco’s arrest all the main players are now in custody. A trial date has been set for November 1. </p>
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New death threat against author Roberto Saviano
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-death-threat-against
2010-11-18T21:15:54.000Z
2010-11-18T21:15:54.000Z
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<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10954542701?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on October 15, 2008<br /> <br /> Monday, October 13, 2008 must've been a very weird day for Italian author Roberto Saviano. The 29 year old 'celebrated' his second year in hiding since the Camorra had put him on a death list because of his groundbreaking crime book Gomorra.<br /> <br /> In Gomorra Saviano takes the reader to Naples and its surrounding cities and shows how the Camorra is damaging the life of millions of citizens through a variety of illegal activities. And he shows this in a deadly way. Instead of giving one example of corruption, he gives entire lists of regional governments that have been infiltrated by the Camorra. And he gives us the number of Camorra related murders since his own birth in 1979: a staggering 3600 murders.<br /> <br /> Besides hitting us with those numbers, he hits us with the personal stories behind them. Who are the murdered people, what did they do to end up killed in the streets? By who? For what? He takes us into the sweatshops where fake designer clothing is made. Out into the deserted countryside where the Camorra illegaly dumps its waste. Waste like ink cartridges. Saviano describes walking over such a dump ground and smelling the penetrating sour stench that rose up from it when it rained. If inhaled that air can cause ulcers, breathing difficulties, even lung cancer.<br /> <br /> When talking about the end result of these crimes it is impossible not to discuss those at the top, making the decisions that wreck havoc on Italy: the bosses. Saviano takes them on. He ridicules them. He analyses their criminal society, its code and culture, and rips it apart. This must have made the Camorra bosses very angry. But it made them furious when the book became an enormous success. Now Saviano had an audience.<br /> <br /> Tommaso Buscetta a member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra once said: "The Mafiosi are not romantic figures like you see in the movies. They are men of violence, men who let gross amounts of money rule their actions. Until the public really understands this true nature of Cosa Nostra, its power and its violence will continue. I think there is only one way to overcome Cosa Nostra, and that is to educate people, to let them see what these men really are, and how dangerous they are to a civilized society. Then, and only then, will law enforcement truly win its fight against organized crime."<br /> <br /> Robert Saviano showed the true face of the Camorra to millions around the world. To make matters worse for the Camorra, the book has been made into a movie. It is being released world wide and has gotten very positive reviews. It is even being tipped as a candidate to win an Acadamy Award.<br /> <br /> It is no surprise then that a Camorra turncoat, someone related to the jailed Camorra boss Francesco "Sandokan" Schiavone, told police that the Casalesi Clan of the Camorra planned to kill Saviano before Christmas by blowing up his car. Authorities are still trying to verify the truth of the claim. Camorra bosses allegedly had said Gomorra was "creating too much noise, it has become a phenomenon''. The Camorra is under pressure from authorities due to the recent killing of six Africans, the movie will not ease that pressure. Saviano has shown the world the power of the pen. Let us hope the sword will not get a chance to swing.</p>
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Profile of Camorra Boss Maria Licciardi
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-maria-licciardi
2010-11-18T21:10:53.000Z
2010-11-18T21:10:53.000Z
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<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10178035271?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /> <br /> When people are asked what they think of Maria Licciardi they answer several things. They will say she was charismatic, calm, highly intelligent, ruthless and more importantly they will say she was the Capo dei capi of the <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a>, the boss of bosses in the Mafia organization based in Naples.<br /> <br /> Maria Licciardi was born 24th of March, 1951 in Napoli, Italy. Napoli or Naples is the third largest city in Italy and is home to the Camorra. The Camorra is the Napolitan answer to the Sicilian Mafia. The Camorra, as we know it today, started it's hold on the city in the years after the Second World War when they took control of the weapon and cigarette smuggling operations. Over the years they expanded into real estate and the drugtrade. Maria Licciardi knew from early on what the Camorra was and who ran it. She grew up in a family of killers and Camorra members. All her brothers were active Camorra members. One of them, her brother Gennaro "the monkey" Licciardi had become boss and ruled supreme. Her husband Antonio Teghemié was also a member. All in all you could say every man in Maria Licciardi's life was a Camorra member.<br /> <br /> Growing up Maria Licciardi's role was still that of a wife. And in the mob world the role of the wife was to be loyal, tight lipped, cook, clean and raise the kids. And that role has been there since.....wel since the beginning of humanity. But with the crackdown by the Italian government on organized crime that put countless of members and bosses behind bars and the bloody wars that decimated the clans and Families the role of the woman began to change. With most qualified men in prison, dead or too young, women slowly moved themselves into the seats of power of the Camorra. One of the first women to do so was Rosetta "Ice Eyes" Cutolo. Cutolo followed in the footsteps of her brother Raffaele who was imprisoned. Rosetta became known for her ruthlesness and great leadership qualities, under her leadership income from extortion and the drugtrade increased to record heights. When she eventually was arrested she was only convicted for associating/contacts with the Mafia. She was acquitted 9 times of murder.<img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236998879,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /><br /> <br /> Was one man gone enough to put Rosetta in the seat of power things didn't go that easily for Maria. The first sign that her time might have come was when in 1993 her brother Gennaro Licciardi was murdered in prison. But Maria had to wait, in line before her were her two brothers Pietro and Vincenzo, as well as her husband Antonio Teghemié. But as time went by they all were unable to take control getting whacked or arrested and so Maria's time had come.<br /> <br /> It didn't go easy, not only losing her brothers and husband, she also had to prove her qualities to the other bosses and more importantly her soldiers, and as soon as Maria Licciardi was in place she proved it. She set up meetings with rival Camorra clans and told them that the fighting over territory and power had to stop. The wars meant that they lost money and didn't make the money they could make without war. Licciardi advised that the clans should carve up the city and work together to expand the cigarette smuggling, drugtrade and racketeering. The other bosses saw she was right and decided to work together and make peace. Maria Licciardi's first victory was behind her and now fully in control she decided to give out some orders and handle business.<br /> <br /> One of the things Licciardi did was get her Family into the prostitution trade. Until then the Family had always stayed out of that business because of a code of honor but under Licciardi that code was broken. They bought the girls from the Albanian Mafia, put them on the street and money was flowing in. Girls were put on drugs so they wouldn't become an informant or run away. When the girls had become too old they were killed. Another big moneymaker, one that expanded under Maria, was the drugtrade. The Napolitan suburbs are ruled by the Camorra. Young drugdealers are used to sell heroine and cocaine. One police officer says: "It's one big web, they constantly change people and locations" The police have a lot of trouble breaking down the Camorra Organization. A lot of the people who live in these suburbs support the Camorra. Unemployment is high and one of the main employers is the Camorra, they also provide money for the comunity. And if all this isn't enough to keep omerta in place than fear is. "A big portion of the people protects them and works together with them against the police". Italian prosecutor Luigi Bobbio who went after Licciardi and investigated her says: "As soon as a woman takes charge we can see that emotion plays a lesser part and that the organization reaches greater heights." Under Maria Licciardi the Camorra indeed reached new heights. They became more violent and more secretive.<br /> <br /> Licciardi's reign had been relatively quiet, everything ran without problems. Untill a Camorra clan unhappy with Licciardi decided to deny an order. The disagreement was over a shipment of pure unrefinded heroine. The heroine Licciardi said would kill all the customers and bring heat from public and law enforcement. She ordered it not to be sold. Without her knowing and behind her back a Camorra clan named Lo Russo decided otherwise and made the shipment ready for being sold on streetlevel. After a few days it happened, drug addicts lay across the street dead from the heroine from the forbidden shipment. Heat from the public and law enforcement came down on the Camorra clans. The alliance that Licciardi realised early on in her career fell apart instantly. Wars among clans erupted and again each other business was taken over or destroyed. When other clans attacked Licciardi's men, Licciardi went to war. During this war over a hundred mobsters were killed. The war put in place a hunt by law enforcement for the leaders.<br /> <br /> Now Licciardi had run into the kind of trouble normally reserved for men, she was under pressure from both rivals as well as law enforcement and had managed to get on the "30 most wanted Italians" list and so she went into hiding. While in hiding she continued to run the Camorra and fight her wars both with rival clans as well as law enforcement. When Maria felt prosecutor Luigi Bobbio and his team were getting a bit too close to her Family soldiers and herself she decided to take action. On January 2001 she bombed Bobbio's office building, as a warning. It didn't help her. Bobbio continued his fight and under massive protection he started breaking down the wall surrounding Licciardi. 70 of her men were arrested but all maintained a code of silence and took their prisonterm instead. Licciardi seemed untouchable. Italian authorities only had one photograph of her and distributed it. Authorities thought that while on the run Licciardi would have had plastic surgery or changed her hair color or model, they didn't know what to look for. But they kept up pressure and Licciardi's hide out became known. A team was set in place to arrest her. Licciardi was hiding out in a Neapolitan suburb, she felt safe knowing the people living there would not give her up to the police. But the cops were on to her and found her hideout. On June 14, 2001 the Mobile Squad of Naples and special operations team from the police raided Licciardi's hideout and arrested her. She didn't resist arrest and was taken into custody. At her arrest police noticed she looked just like the photo that was released years earlier. At age 50 Maria Licciardi's reign as boss was over. Her would be place taken over by someone else, probably a man.<br /> <br /> Although still uncommon in Sicily and unheard of in the United States female Mafia bosses in Italy are on the rise. Statistics show that in 1990 one woman was indicted for Mafia connections in 1995 there were 89 such indictements. The emergence of women as bosses is far more noticeable in Naples than Sicily. The police say it is partly a cultural thing. "Family ties are very tight here, and women have always had a far more dominant role in the family here than in Sicily," said Giuseppe Donno, a spokesman for the police department of the province of Naples. "They say that behind every great man there is a strong woman, and that is true in crime families as well." It has to be said though that this shift in power is more a lack of manpower than a sudden boost in ruthlessness or power under women. Most of them become boss when close Family needs to be replaced and no others are available, they are used as temporary powers. So women are taking control but would never do it by taking out male competition, they wouldn't win that fight. But when they are in the position of boss women have proven to be just as ferocious and ruthless as their male counterparts if not even more.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE 7 AUGUST, 2021: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/camorra-godmother-maria-licciardi-arrested-at-rome-airport" target="_blank"><strong>Camorra Godmother Maria Licciardi arrested at Rome airport</strong></a></p>
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The Casalesi Clan of the Camorra
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-casalesi-clan-of-the
2010-11-18T21:00:00.000Z
2010-11-18T21:00:00.000Z
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<div><p>By Hollander (nickname)<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236999074,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />This innocent looking boy is the feared boss of the most powerful clan in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra" target="_blank">Neapolitan Camorra</a>. Born on September 20 1964 in the town of San Cipriano d'Aversa, Antonio o'ninno Iovine woud rise to the top of the Casalesi clan. Iovine, a fugitive for 12 years, got his nickname o'ninno (the baby) because the boss of his crime family Mario Iovine (a relative) made him a capo at a very young age.<br /> <br /> The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Casalesi" target="_blank">Casalesi clan</a>, a confideration bringing together all the crime families in Caserta province, is thought to have carried out more than 1,000 murders in the past 30 years to establish an iron grip on the area. The clan took its name from Casal di Principe. Casal (population of 20,158) is a town where 3000 people are kept under police surveillance because of prior convictions or known affiliation with the clan. Other clan strongholds are San Cipriano, Casapesenna and Caivano. The biggest moneymakers for the crime families are construction, distribution and waste management, keeping a lower profile than clans that focus on <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug dealing</a>.<br /> <br /> The Casalesi created a monopoly in the cement market for their own contruction businesses and controlled the distribution of materials. Any business wanting to open in the area had to pay the clan for permission and then buy cement from them to build their buildings. The clan was also skimming money off the construction of the highway Rome-Naples and the prison in Santa Maria Capua Vetere (many of the gangsters ended up in that same prison).<br /> <br /> In the distribution rackets they control the distribution of essential products. The clan controlled and extorted from Cirio and Calisto Tanzi's Parmalat, these companies had grown in multinational corporations into milk, dairy, beverage, bakey and other products. The profits were invested in real estate in Milan and Parma. After the disappearance of Antonio Bardellino, founder of the clan, five families (Schiavone, Iovine, Bidognetti, De Falco and Zagaria) took control, each with their own army.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236999500,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />The charismatic Francesco "Sandokan" Schiavone (picture on the left) became the capo dei capi. Schiavone and his brother Walter were since 1979 heavily involved in several bloody wars in the quest for power over the nearby Segondigliano families. When Raffaele Cutolo and the other enemies were defeated, internal feuds broke out, capo Vincenzo De Falco betrayed the second in command Francesco Bidognetti, who was arrested in February 1990. De Falco was killed in Casal di Principe a year later. In retaliation his brother Nunzio the wolf De Falco killed Mario Iovine on March 6 1991. The boss was showered with bullets, while he was standing in a phone booth in Portugal. Eventually the De Falcos were defeated, however Antonio Iovine's brother Carmine was ambushed and killed in 1994.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236999669,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />In 1998 boss Francesco Schiavone was arrested, after five years on the run. In his hideout, a secret bunker in his Naples villa, police found a library dedicated to his idol Napoleon and various paintings made by the boss. The Casalesi clan is vey active in the waste business; Francesco Cicciott' e Mezzanotte Bidognetti (picture on the right) is a powerhouse in the sector. His nephew Gaetano Cerci is believed to be the key link between the clan and Licio Gelli, head of the former masonic lodge P2. The Bidognetti and Tavoletta families are very strong in the northern towns of Caserta province. They operate several illigal dumps between Napels and Caserta. Tonnes of dangerous waste from northern and central Italy was planted in the dumps, as well as toxic wastes from factories, hospitals and cemetries.<br /> <br /> In October 2003 Bidognetti and his son Aniello were indicted for the murder of doctor Gennaro Falco in the town of Parete. Two weeks later capo Sebastiano Caterino and Umberto De Falco were murdered. Finally in June Francesco Schiavone and 15 other Casalesi bosses (including Bidognetti) were convicted to life in prison. The Spartacus trial, one of the biggest mafia trials in Italian history, involved the investigation of 1,300 people and the testimony of 500 witnesses (including 20 turncoats). Four bosses became fugitives among them Antonio Iovine and Michele Zagaria, the powerful capo of Casapesenna. In the months running up to the court deliberations several gangsters or their relatives have been killed. The brother of Mario Iovine was shot to dead in January.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237000065,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Michele Iovine (picture on the left) drove his car in Caserta Nord, he just got out of jail after eleven years for extortion and other crimes. In May Umberto Bidognetti died in a hail of bullets in the small town of Castel Volturno. The victim, father of a turncoat and uncle of boss Francesco Bidognetti, had refused police protection. The murders are part of the strategy of Iovine and Zagaria, which is trying to dissuade those who wish to collaborate with law enforcement.<br /> <br /> However police have recently stepped up efforts to dismantle the clan, Iovine's girlfriend and brother Giuseppe were arrested. Giuseppe Iovine was fired from the traffic police in 1995 for his mafia connections, but in 2007 gangsters have been discovered holding meetings in the police station of San Cipriano. They used the station phone and snorted cocaine in the command post. Another succes for the police came in July, they tracked down Domenico Vargas to a hideout near Castel Volturno. Vargas a killer is suspected of two murders in recent months. Investigators suspect Antonio's ability to evade arrest is thanks in part to mafia infiltration of local govenment, the Casalesi clan controlled elections for decades.<br /> </p>
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Camorra Boss: Augusto La Torre
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-augusto-la-torre
2010-11-18T21:00:00.000Z
2010-11-18T21:00:00.000Z
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<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236998484,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Published: May 1, 2007<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236998658,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Augusto La Torre took the place of his father and became boss of the clan which ruled in the north of the province Caserta, in the south of Lazio and along the coast of Domizio. The empire of the La Torres stretched out into The Netherlands. Augusto's brother <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-antonio-la-torre-charged-with-plotting-murder-of-ant" target="_blank">Antonio</a> (picture right) had set up legit businesses in Aberdeen, Scotland. (Antonio also ran some illegal businesses there.) In March 2005 <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-boss-antonio-la-torre-charged-with-plotting-murder-of-ant" target="_blank">Antonio was arrested</a> in Aberdeen because of an Italian arrest warrant. He had been sentenced to 13 years in prison in Italy for racketeering. The La Torres mainly invested their ill gotten money in the United Kingdom. Because of their businesses in the UK it is alleged the La Torre clan even made a non Italian a member. Brandon Queen is the first British (Scottish) member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>. He is in prison in England and receives a monthly salary, something only members of the Clans receive.<br /> <br /> Mondragone was the first Italian community that was disbanded because of infiltration by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>. The La Torre clan had their base in Mondragone, and ruled it with an iron fist. They had a certain way of disposing of bodies which was dubbed alla mondragonese. They dump the bodies in a well, then they throw in a handgrenade. The body is blown in tiny pieces and covered in dirt, hidden forever.<br /> <br /> Eventhough the clan was heavily involved in trafficking narcotics Augusto didn't want to see any drugs in his territory. He prohibited the sale or use of drugs. Anyone who broke those rules was killed. A junkie who, to support his habit, started dealing drugs in Mondragone was taken for a ride, killed, and injection needles were injected all over his body. When Paolo Montano, a soldier in the Clan, got addicted to cocaine one of his best friends invited him to a farmhouse. There Augusto shot him. Augusto demanded total loyalty from his men, and he got it. When Augusto became a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">pentito</a> (government witness) in January 2003 all his men did the same. Augusto confessed that he committed and ordered 40 murders. The La Torre Clan's empire was worth hundreds of millions of euros.</p>
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Special Report: Mob-murders Cools Off in Italy
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/special-report-mobmurders
2010-11-10T19:11:15.000Z
2010-11-10T19:11:15.000Z
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<div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Special Report: Mob-murders Cools Off in Italy</span><br style="font-weight:bold;" /><br style="font-weight:bold;" /><span style="font-weight:bold;">And other Historical Stories about the Sicilian Mafia.</span></div>
<p><br /> By Clarence Walker, Investigative Journalist, Houston Texas.<br /> Posted on October 8, 2007<br /> <br /> Is it a myth or reality that mob-related murders are at its lowest decline in Italy's history of organized crime? Italian authorities and prominent research teams has found that mob-related murders throughout Italy declined in recent years due to less internal disputes and rival conflicts between Costa Nostra families and other organized crime groups. Recent statistics showed that Italy’s homicide rate involving organized crime decreased to 121 murders in 2006. Experts point out the fact since the 1990s mob-related murders has steadily cooled off. Example: Authorities say when a comparison is made between the 121 murders in 2006; 143 in 2005, 212 in 2004---with the 340 mob connected murders in 1992, the year Sicily’s Costa Nostra executed a reign of terror by killing political officials and if the numbers are correct the murder rate shows a considerable decline. Italy’s Interior Minister Guliano Amato attributed the lower numbers of body counts to a “Pax Mafioso” whereby the players in the mob game try to score tons of money without getting their hands bloody. “Without a doubt (there is) a “Pax Mafioso,” a change in direction of the Mafia”, Amato says. “The decline of homicides by Costa Nostra was part of a precise strategy”, says anti-Mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso who is based in Rome. “Fewer homicides don’t mean the mob is weaker. It means there are fewer internal disputes.” But a vicious and long-running mob war between two interrelated crime families may well jinx the numbers.<br /> <br /> On August 15th, six members of the Strangio-Nirta family were executed outside a popular restaurant in Duisberg Germany by suspected members of the Pelle-Romeo family. Both clans are members of the notorious “Ndrangheta Calabria Mafia. based in San Luca. The murders marked the first time that a mafia syndicate carried out a revenge attack on foreign soil. Police say the men were gunned down outside a popular restaurant called Da Bruno. They were celebrating the 18th birthday of Tommaso Venturi who died enroute to the hospital. Among those shot to death were: (1) restaurant owner Sebastino Strangio, 39, (2) Francesco Giorgi who is the nephew of Strangio. Two brothers: (3)Francesco, 22, and Marco Pergola, 20. (4) Marco Marmo, 25. Police investigation indicated the assassins fired more than 70 shots at the scene---striking the victims also armed with weapons multiple times. Last week investigators arrested several suspects but none has been charged in the slayings.<br /> <br /> The murders shocked this west German city but there is another sinister picture. Authorities say the homicides shows the strong presence of the 'Ndrangheta Mafia in Germany. "It is disturbing---first because of the sheer number of the dead", the acting director of Italy's National Anti-Mafia bureau, Carmelo Petralia, told the BBC news media. "We knew that the 'Ndrangheta had deep links to Germany to launder the proceeds of its criminal activities from the prying eyes of Italy's Mafia investigators,” Petralia said. Italian and German newspaper stories has reported that hundreds of the ‘Ndrangheta syndicate from San Luca has emigrated over the years to Germany and Europe where they operate drug trafficking and other lucrative organized crime activities. Luigi de Sena, deputy director of the police in the Calabria region told the Italian news agency ANSA the murders were “an unprecendented settling of scores, particularly because the murders took place in a foreign country for the first time”. Sena added the fact that “the presence of the Calabrian mafia in Germany is very strong, but until now they always kept a low profile, trying not to attract attention”. Police has refused to comment publicly if the restaurant where the victims were murdered has been identified as a secret location for meetings between mob players and a money laundering operation.<br /> <br /> San Luca village located in southern Italy was described in 2005 by Italy’s domestic intelligence agency as “the cradle of the ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate. Above the town is the shrine of “Our Lady of Polsi” which is a symbolism of religion. Anti-mafia authorities has secretly documented the presence of ‘Ndrangheta crime bosses who travel from all over the world every September to pay respect to the shrine. Enzo Ciconte, the author of several books on the ‘Ndrangheta mob and a consultant to Italy’s anti-mafia commission is considered an expert on Italy’s organized crime. Referring to the Strangio-Nirta and the Pelle-Romeo family, Ciconte told reporters: “It is the families of San Luca who decides if other families are a part of the ‘Ndrangheta.” Ciconte explains this point: “Let’s say, you wanted to set up a new locale in Britain, Holland or Germany and you don’t get the approval of the ‘Ndrangheta in San Luca, then your gang is not part of the ‘Ndrangheta”.<br /> <br /> Blood War<br /> <br /> When the six men of the Strangio-Nirta crime family were murdered on August 15th by suspected members of the Pello-Romeo clan---both from the ‘Ndranghetha mob---authorities knew immediately the motive was a spillover feud between the families. According to Mafia investigators the deadly fireworks started in 1991 when the Strangio-Nirta and Pelle-Romeo families had a fight at a carnival in San Luca after both sides hurled eggs and insults at each other. The brutal fight left two men dead and others injured which triggered retaliation acts known throughout Italy as the “vendetta of San Luca”. This vendetta brought on many murders between the warring factions. Over the years since the carnival affair authorities contributed 15 or more murders among the families. After the carnival brawl a string of ‘hit-versus-hit’ murders went down until 2000 when investigators believed the dispute had been resolved. But the tranquility was shattered last year on Christmas eve when Maria Strangio, 33, the wife of boss Giovanni Nirta, was shot to death at her mother’s home in San Luca. Strangio’s father, Antonio, is also among the victims murdered in this bloody drama of vendetta killings. Renato Cortese, chief of Calabria’s flying squad investigated the feuds and said the attacks had been carefully timed. “They like to pick dates with meaning and this happened on the eve of Ascension day, as a follow-up to the Christmas killing of Maria Strangio,” Cortese said.<br /> <br /> ‘Ndrangheta Rap Sheet<br /> <br /> Unlike other powerful Mafia syndicates in Italy---the Costa Nostra of Sicily, the Camorra of Naples, and the United Holy Crown of Puglia---the Ndrangheta operate a loose clan system with unified command. This organization differs from other Italian Mafia syndicates that are organized into families, the ‘Ndrangheta arrange marriages among relatives to bring members into their circle. The name ‘Ndrangheta is steeped in legend. Historians say the tracing of the name derives from the greek word ‘andragathos’ meaning ‘brave man’. Calabrian was an area of Byzantine greek settlement which suggests the organization or its social culture is older than the original Costa Nostra. Depending which numbers are accurate authorities say the circle has up to 100 families who specialize in cocaine and heroin trafficking, money laundering and contract killing. Foreign authorities describe the ‘Ndrangheta mob as the most wealthiest and deadly crime syndicate in organized crime and more powerful than Sicilian Mafia. Recent investigation reports pointed out the fact more than 70 per cent of Calabrian businessmen pay the ‘Ndrangheta mob protection money. The remaining 30 per cent of all businesses and shops are controlled by the mob.<br /> <br /> Drug Business<br /> <br /> Pietro Grasso, Italy’s anti-Mafia commission said the killings in Duisberg is evidence that the ‘Ndrangheta mob is operating globally. Grasso said it is clear the group has “taken control of the economic power from other crime syndicates involving international drug dealing”. Drug investigators have uncovered evidence to show the ‘Ndrangheta clan controls most of Colombia’s cocaine exports to Europe which flows through the port town of Gioia Tauro in Calabria, southern Italy. “This organization is all over Europe and even has a hand in politics,” Grasso said. He added that “no country in the world” can stop them, until the international banking system becomes less opaque.”. “We can find the drugs and the people, but we cannot track the money. There is no doubt that money is moving to Colombia, so why we can’t see it?” Grasso added: “We have increased the number of our raids and checks enormously, but the strategy is useless. The people who traffic drugs make sure they do not violate the banking laws over the transfer of capital, and they act openly with the help of major financial experts.” Anthony Nicaso, the author of ‘Blood Brothers’, a book about the ‘Ndrangheta, said the group is the only true global Italian crime syndicate. “The ‘Ndrangheta has been very adept at modernizing itself. They use the internet to recycle money from its activities and keeps a monopoly on Colombian cocaine into Europe”. “They have direct links with the Colombians and terrorist organizations. They are also in the UK as well, Nicaso said. A 2004 Italian government report estimated the group earned over $22 billion dollars from the drug trade. “Pressure by law enforcers on Costa Nostra has helped the ‘Ndrangheta expand drug operation and thanks to their tight family structure, there are few turncoats to help police,” said Franceso Forgione, head of Italy’s parliamentary anti-mafia commission. Mafia bosses, including those from San Luca clans, have reinvested drug earnings in hotels, restaurants and construction in Germany. Investigator Cortese also told reporters that both the Strangio-Nirta and the Pelle-Romeo families were powerful forces in the ‘Ndrangheta’s drug business which elevated the Calabria mafia to become Europe’s top-level narcotics supplier with the aid of the Colombian drug cartel.<br /> <br /> Authorities suspect the ‘Ndrangheta group murdered Francesco Fortugno, vice president of Calabria’s regional government. Fortugno was murdered last year by two masked gunmen in the small town of Locri shortly after he voted in a national primary ballot to choose a leader for the center-left opposition. No arrest has been made.<br /> <br /> Sicilian Mafia History<br /> <br /> According to historical accounts the so-called mob, "Man Of Honor" or Sicilian Mafia developed either from the 1700s or 1800s eras'. Controversy stems from the creation of Italy's criminal underworld because research by experts have pointed out truth and half-truths mixed with inaccurate and confusing details about the beginning of the Sicilian mob. Overall, one fact stands out. A Rome research group reported years ago that from (1860-1876) the beginning of the real Sicilian mob began after Sicily became part of the nation of Italy after decades of unfettered rule by the country of Naples. Naples was part of the Bourbon Kingdom. Bourbon ruled most of Southern Italy that Sicily was a part of. During turbulent periods between the (two) the Sicilians who lived on islands formed a small group of men who resisted and set out to exact vigilante justice against the oppression imposed by the Kingdom. Sicily's history further show that it wasn't until the Red shirt army led by Giuseppe Garibaldi fought a 'bloody' war with Neapolitano warriors that Sicily won its liberation from Naples and subsequently integrated the country of Italy that gave birth to the Sicilian mob. Despite other questionable versions of the creation of the Italian mob many historians discovered evidence the group did not become a well-structured organization until the late 1800s. The phrase Costa Nostra---"our way"---was used to describe the lifestyle of a Mafioso in Sicily. Secrecy that surrounded Mafia activities in Sicily became known as the "Omerta"---the silence code. The practice of recruiting men into the Mafia by administering the oath and a test of one's ability to carry out mob-related duties also originated from the Sicilian mafia.<br /> <br /> Following Garibaldi's legendary defeat over the Bourbon Kingdom group that once ruled the Sicilian island---over 2.4 million Sicilians migrated into Italy's mainland. To win liberation from their conquerors, the Sicilians' epic victory over the Kingdom duplicate stories we often hear today about poverty-stricken people who challenged insurmountable odds to achieve the "American Dream". Unfortunately, what seemed as a dream come true for the Sicilians, the victory over the Bourbon Kingdom soon turned into a nightmare. Relationships between the Sicilians and the Italian government soured. Sicilians who invested profits into the revolutionary battle to claim independence from the Kingdom accused the government of denying access into the political mainstream to have government assist the Sicilians to earn sufficient capital to redevelop the deplorable conditions of the islands where they once lived. Members and close associates of the Italian government fired back. They accused the Sicilian islanders of thievery, dishonesty, including their associations with predatory criminals that threaten to undermine and possibly overthrow the government. Fed up with unfairness and discrimination a group of Sicilians formed their own government called "our way". From the beginning, during the 1800s, the Italian Mafia infiltrated and exploited every business, political groups, and the social and the economic fabric inside of Italy's infrastructure that spreaded across the globe and its power impacted the world. It’s no secret. They are known as the most notorious and widespread of all underworld criminal enterprise. The Italian Mafia, like other organized crime groups, are into traditional crimes such as extortion, running protection rackets, gambling enterprises and takeover of territories where money flow from various activities. In recent years, Italy's Mafia groups has become more sophisticated by diversifying their activities into other areas such as drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, and the bribery of political leaders and judges. Investigators and prominent members of trade associations reported that between 2000-2005--- the Italian Mafia controls one in five businesses in Italy. Members of the association in Milan said the Mafia owned 20% of all businesses with an annual turnover of $133 billions, the equivalent of 15% of GNP. Reports further showed the money made by the Mafia was "enough to pay off public debt with the ball and chain around Europe's ankle". Sergio Billie, the president of Italy's business association, indicated not enough was being done internationally to combat organized crime. A police official said that countries allowing offshore banking is responsible for the growth in OC criminal activities. Milan chief prosecutor Gerardo d'Ambrosion weighed in on the issues. "In order to beat the Mafia, we need the cooperation of businessmen, and they don't always give us concrete facts to act upon".<br /> <br /> History of La Costa Nostra (LCN)<br /> <br /> As stated earlier, the Sicilian Mafia is the original mafia of all mafia' throughout the world. But it is commonly known as the roots of La Costa Nostra based in Italy is pivotal to Italian organized crime---though LCN has been separate organization for many years. Documented history by journalists and government archives reveals that Giuseppe Esposito was the first known Sicilian Mafia member to immigrate to America. Esposito and six other Sicilians fled to New York after they murdered the chancellor and a vice chancellor of a Sicilian province and 11 wealthy landowners. Esposito was arrested in New Orleans Louisiana in 1881, extradited to Italy and convicted. New Orleans was also the first city in America involving the murder of a police officer allegedly at the hands of the Mafia. The murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessey sparked a riot when Sicilian Joseph P. Macheca and other Italian defendants were acquitted of Hennessey murder by a jury. A vigilante group broke into the jail where the Sicilians were being held and killed nine of the men. None of the killers who either hung or shot the Italians were prosecuted. To get the full story read the book Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia written by Thomas Hunt and Martha Macheca.<br /> <br /> The Sicilian Mafia is notorious for brutal assaults on Italian law enforcement officials. In Sicily the word “Excellent Cadaver” is used to distinguish the assassination of prominent government officials from other criminals and ordinary citizens killed by the Mafia. High-ranking victims include police commissioners, mayors, judges, police colonels, generals, and parliament members. On May 23rd 1992, the Sicilian Mafia struck Italian law enforcement with vengeance. Approximately 6:p.m, Italian Magistrate Giovanni Falcone, his wife, and three police bodyguards were killed by a massive bomb. Falcone was the director of criminal affairs in Rome. The bomb made a crater 30 feet in diameter in the road. Falcone’s murder became known as the Capaci Massacre. Two months later on July 19th the Sicilian mob killed Falcone’s replacement, Judge Paolo Borsellino in Palermo, Sicily. Borsellino and five bodyguards were killed outside the apartment of Borsellino’s mother when a car packed with explosives was detonated by remote control. Both murders of the officials ignited an all-out war between authorities and the Sicilian gangsters. Several mobsters and their associates were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms in Italy.<br /> <br /> Italian Mafia Groups<br /> <br /> (1) 'Ndrangheta: Calabrian Mafia Location: Southern Italy. Known as "The Honored Society", Fibbia or Calabrian Mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, for many years, toiled in the shadow of the more popular Sicilian Costa Nostra. But not now. The 'Ndrangheta, the word pronounced "en-drang- ay-ta", according to Italian government authorities, is the most richest and powerful organized crime syndicate in Italy and throughout the European country. Informant Calogero Marceno told authorities the 'Ndrangheta Mafia splits into two levels: (1) the "maggiore" which is the senior level and the "minore" is the junior level. These separate positions creates a barrier between low-level common-type crimes and higher-level political and white-collar crimes. Unlike the Sicilian Mafia, which is organized into families with a pyramid structure, the 'Ndrangheta clan is based on blood relationship, inter-marriages, or being a godfather. Each group is named after the village where they reside, or after the family leader. With an estimated 10,000 'made' members compared to three-to-four thousands in Costa Nostra, Italian police secret intelligence division concluded years ago there are at least 100 or more clans within the 'Ndrangheta mafia. Recent investigation reports has estimated that the annual income by the ‘Ndrangheta mob has an annual turnover of $35 billion Euro. "We are faced with the most powerful Italian criminal organization that extends its influence from Calabria to the rest of Italy, and into various European countries and across the oceans", says Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu.<br /> <br /> (2) Camorra: Neapolitan Mafia: LOCATION: NAPLES, ITALY. The Camorra mafia started as a prison gang in Naples during the mid-1800s. Once the group was released they started their own clan family and continued to grow in power. This group made a fortune in reconstruction after a devastating earthquake ravaged the Campania region in the 1980s. Considered the second largest International organized crime group with over 200 clans and estimated 7000 'made' members. They specialize in cigarette smuggling and take payoffs from other criminal syndicates for any cigarette trafficking through Italy. During the 1970s, the Sicilian mafia intervened with the Camorras' operation. The Sicilians had a plan with the dope game. They wanted the Camorra to convert the cigarette smuggling routes into drug smuggling routes with the assistance of the Sicilians but many of the Camorra leaders refused. This disagreement caused the two families to war against each other. The violence claimed the lives of 400 or more members from both sides. Many of the deaths were the Camorra group. But they rebounded from the losses and continued to control the cigarette trafficking. International organized crime investigators and the FBI in the united states has documented at least 200 Camorra affiliates in the united states. Many immigrated to the USA during the Camorra wars.<br /> <br /> (3) Sacra Corona Unita: Location: Apulia, Italy Like the Camorra, the Sacra Corona Unita (SCU) started as a prison gang and once the members were released they settled in the Puglia region and eventually linked their operations into other Mafia networks. According to intelligence units the Corona has approximately 50 clans with approximately 2000 members. SCU leader Giuseppe Rogoli instituted a pyramid structure for the organization: Soldiers were known as a "camorristi" which was at the bottom; and an "sgarristi" was known as an enforcer. Other levels of membership are: (1) Santisti (2) Evangelisti (3) Trequartino. Informant Cosimo Capodeci said the SCU used "the Crown (Corona) because it resembled a crown, which reflects the rosary typically used in church to carry out the work of Jesus Christ and the cross. Capodeci further indicated the word United (Unita), was used because of its necessity to be "connected to one another". (As quoted in The Global Mafia Report). Investigations by foreign government agencies reported the SCU had links to the Colombian drug cartels, other Italian crime syndicates, including the Russians and Asian organized crime organizations. Based on intelligence reports published in American and Foreign media outlets the SCU were the key players in the mass smuggling of thousands of Albanian women and young girls into Italy for prostitution. They are even referred to as "modern-day slave traders" due to their role in illegal human trafficking. Their activity involves cigarette smuggling, drugs, firearms, and human trafficking. Mixed into their operation is the payoffs from other criminal groups for landing rights on the southeast coast of Italy. This territory is a designated route for smuggling to and from post-Communist countries like Croatia, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Although the FBI haven't identified too many Sacro Corona mafiosos in USA but there are some links in Illinois, Florida and New York.<br /> <br /> (4) Stidda: The Star: Location: Sicily Italy Mafiosos Giuseppe Benvento and Salvatore Calafato, both from the province of Palmi di Montechiaro, gave the organization its name La Stidda (Sicilian star). Over the years, the Stidda has extended its influence into Italy's mainland provinces such as Milano, Genova and Torino. Members are called stiddari in the Caltanissetta province and stiddaroli in Agrigento province. sStidda members identify each other by a tattoo of five greenish marks arranged in a circle, forming a star called "I punti della malavita" or "the points of the criminal life". When the Costa Nostra waged war against other factions in the 1970s for control of the southern and eastern parts of Italy the feud brought the Corleonesi clan and it's ruthless leaders Luciano Leggio, Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano into power---which caused a severe disruption inside the traditional power base of Costa Nostra. The continuing chaos within the families left the Stidda clan to try to balance the main power base of Costa Nostra such as those loyal to slain Capo Giuseppe DiCristina who defected from the ranks due to the bloodthirsty reign of the Corleonesi clan. From 1978 to 1980, former Corleonesi leader Capo Toto Riina fought against the Stidda and other Cosa Nostra members that left over 500 men in Costa Nostra and at least 1000 La Stidda members dead, including Stidda Capos Calogero Lauria and and Vincenzo Spina. When authorities captured Toto Riina in 1993 and a few other gangsters loyal to Riina the Stidda has gained superior status, influence and credibility among other criminal organizations in Italy. The Stidda is sometimes called the "Fifth Mafia".<br /> <br /> New Generation<br /> <br /> Sicilian Mafioso Bernardo Provenzano was captured last year after 43 years on the run and lingering questions persisted: Who would replace him? And whether or not if more bloodshed from different mobs factions in Italy would take place to choose a suitable leader to control the Sicilian Mafia. "There are a generation of 50-somethings ready to carry on", says Antoino Ingroia, a leading anti-Mafia magistrate in Sicily, told reporters at a press conference where news of Provenzano arrest was announced. Investigators say there are two people qualified to replace Provenzano-----Salvatore Lo Piccolo and Matteo Messina Denaro. They, too, like their master Provenzano, have been fugitives for decades----Lo Piccolo since 1983, Messino Denaro since 1993. Lo Piccolo, a boss from the Mafia's Resuttana district in Palermo, is 64, and considered "old school". Authorities reported he'd been closest to Provenzano as an ally. Messina Denaro, from the grim western Sicilian province city of Castelvetrano, is now 47. He is known as the 'playboy boss' because he loves fast cars, pretty women, and gold watches. Whether a war breaks out or not depends on what investigators call "the internal equilibrium" of the Mafia. Asked if he feared a clan war, Piero Grasso, the national anti-Mafia prosecutor, told reporters: "I am Sicilian. I will do everything in my power to avoid it. But soon, the vacuum left by Provenzano arrest will be filled". Over the past 13 years that Provenzano controled the Mafia, investigators said he forged a "kinder, gentler style", to give the Mafia a lower profile to take the police spotlight off organized crime. Ingroid added, "In an organization like the Mafia, a boss has to be one step above the others---otherwise it all falls apart". As stated earlier, the last Mafia wars in Sicily took place in the 1980s when Toto "the beast" Riina, Provenzano, Leoluca Bagarella and Luciano Liggio destroyed hundreds of mob enemies. At the cemetery in San Luca, the grave of Maria Strangio, the victim killed by mafia ambush in December 2006, her tombstone shows the photograph of a beautiful woman with lush, dark hair wearing pendant earrings. The inscription reads: “Your beautiful youth was shattered when everyone was smiling at you. Death carried you far away. It separated you from loved ones who repeat your name silently every hour.” “God help us,” an unidentified man said during interview with a reporter. He makes his living watching over the cemetery where the dead sleep. “We hope for peace. But this is a land forgotten by God and man alike”. Only time will tell if the mob-related murders in Italy cools off or heats up again. Lets wait and see.<br /> <br /> Any comments: Contact Journalist Clarence Walker at Cwalker261@excite.com or Mafia101@myway.com<br /> <br /> References and sources used for this story: (1) Italy crime news (2) Mafia-news.com (3) FBI government records (4) Reuters wire service (5) Guardian newspaper (6) Global Mafia Reports. (Germany News media services)</p>
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