The mafia and a very special flower arrangement

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/special-report-mafia-very-special-flower-arrangement-102427560.html

Very insightful article.

Great post Baldo.
Appreciated.


It's amazing it's not illegal to be a member of the mafia. Or a 1% OMC. These are undisputed criminal organizations. If it is legal to ban certain organizations due to being contrary to the interests of society (eg KKK), then why are these not on that list.

Love to hear the argument against.

My opinion on this is that one is a hate group(KKK) and the other (mafia) is a criminal organization. Most mafia members will not admit they are are members.This makes it harder for law informent to prove they are members and the ones that do will only admit to it after they are caught and may use it to get a lighter sentence.
What I find puzzling is how much proof does law inforcement need for the 1% OMC that wear their patches openly; aren't they telling the world that they are members of the criminal organization.

For an injuction like that(I believe that's what you're referring to, SB, unless I'm mistaken) there has to be a certain area, groups and matching identifying appearance of some sorts for it to work.

For instance, as it works on gangs: Gang apparel, each gang has a different team they use to identify themselves, colors, tattoos and of course, a certain turf. You can't do that to mafia.

As far as MCs go, they're mainly started as a movement or simply a club. Hells Angels are a corporation(if I'm not mistaken) who have legal representatives and codemarked their logo. I know that when I played GTA SA:MP, Hells Angels lawyer would sign up to certain forums and threaten to sue people who made mods for the game based on Hells Angels(used the logo and whatnot). MCs aren't strictly criminal empires.

I am surprised how disciplined these two flower businessmen were.They would get to work early, work long hours, drive average cars not wear expensive watches and all. Normally people in this type of business (illicit drugs)live luxurious life styles.

It's not uncommon with these guys. It will also help them when doing time.

Because in a free society, you can't make it illegal to be a membership of an organization. In the US, I think it's covered under the "free assembly" part of the Constitution. You can freely associate with any person or group (even if they're criminal or radical). That’s why RICO laws require that someone partake in at least two crimes as part of a criminal organization. That effectively is punishing someone for being in the Mafia, but you still have to prove it on a case by case basis.

Terrorists are the only ones largely exempt from this and I'm not even trying to have that debate

Ted in Italy there are the art 416 penale code associazione a delinquere (conspiracy) where the people that made a deal for create a organization that use violence for their needs are santionated once proved the existance of the deal; so every people even white collar men that are associated for break the law can be arrested.
The 416 bis associazione a delinquere di stampo mafioso (mafia type conspirancy) sentence the organization that fall under the OC group localy named (ndrangheta,camorra etc).

The people in the fist case risk to 3 y to 7 y and in the second case over 14 y.
But is based on the italian experiences against the mafia that started with the Rognoni-La Torre law in 1982.
So in the other state apart the RICO there are no simil law.

And that's my point Ted. You can and they have and there are.

The KKK, Nazi party etc are all illegal organizations (and rightly so) which leads to my point, if you CAN ban groups (for whatever reason) then why not 1% and the mob.

Appreciate the above responses from all. But still confuzzled.

It's a difference between organizations that commit crimes and organizations that spread massive hatred towards a certain group. That's the way I see it, anyway.

The oldtimers do. It's the younger generation that doesn't know how to behave.

What do you mean? It isn't illegal to be a KKK or Nazi member.

In the US its legal to create the American Nazi Party or the kkk, so its legal to be member of a racist organization, this is the beautiful of the freedom that gave to possibility to everyone dont mean how idiot,racist,machist ecc can be; he can do it dot.
In Italy in the Costitution is forbitten to try to re-create the fascist party.

Severe sentences are being sought by prosecutors. Link to Italian-language article:

http://www.strill.it/calabria/2016/11/pr...-della-locride/

I owe Sonny Black, eurodave, and Ciment some replies. Sorry I haven't had the time to reply, as I want to reply at length.

Some important names among them.

Vincenzo Macri is not mentioned, he's a fugitve.

Link to Italian-language article published today:

"Coca e tulipani, così la 'ndrangheta usa i fiori per il traffico di droga"
http://espresso.repubblica.it/attualita/...7812?refresh_ce

A recent Dutch investigation showed the Calabrians are still active in Aalsmeer. Flowers are an ideal cover because it are fresh products moved across Europe there's no time to check the trucks.

The Mob has always tried to deny its own existence. That kind of went out the window when guys started flipping, but it's made it harder for law enforcement to prove who's a member and who isn't. (I guess that's why under RICO, they call it "racketeering enterprise" rather than being a member or associate of the mob. The 1% bikers get around it by pretending to only a brotherhood of guys who like to ride bikes. The fact that bikers are generally openly patriotic makes people cut them a lot of slack, too. (Maybe just my opinion)

The Italian judiciary has seized hotels, apartments and 26 bank accounts from Vincenzo and Rocco Crupi. The brothers ran more than 20 years, a flower export company in Holland.
The Crupi's were arrested in September 2015. The clan around the brothers worked in the trade of cocaine, bankruptcy fraud and scams. The case came to light after the Italian police had warned the Dutch justice that the mafia in the Netherlands wanted to murder someone.
According to Italian media, the judiciary has seized 13 flower companies, 22 apartments, 21 shops, 2 hotels (in Rome and Arezzo), all in Italy. In South America, the police seized pieces of land. Total value would be around 30 million euros.
According Agro-check, a company that investigates questionable firms in the flower business, the mafia is still active on the Aalsmeer flower auction.

Macri has been captured in Brazil!

^^^^
"Mafia fugitive arrested at Brazil airport said to be key crime figure linking Canada and Italy's mobsters"

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/...italys-mobsters

When did pumadoru spend time in a US prison?

He was arrested by the FBI in 1990--I'd have to look up when he started serving time.

We know he was released in 2002:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/6...b53d01a1d0b0720

He was arrested in Operation ONIG, named after the informant "Gino" who infiltrated a drug cartel on the east coast backed by LCN. That was in 1994.

Vincenzo was just 10 years old when they killed his father in 1975 the start of the first 'ndrangheta civil war.

Project ONIG investigated collaboration between members of the Montreal Mafia, the Siderno Group in Calabria, the Colombian cartels, the Sicilian mafia, and Asian OC. The Vincenzo Macrì arrested in relation to this investigation --"u baruni"--is someone different from the just recently arrested Macrì.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/c...451f5908f8dcd98

You may be right this Vincenzo was arrested earlier in Delaware I think.

Dominican Republic along with Morocco and Holland are the Commisso's drug supply centers to supply Europe. The clan also had investments in gambling in the DR.

'Ndrangheta e droga, 37 condanne

http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/reggio/251613/ndrangheta-e-droga-37-condanne.html

Processo 'Acero': 37 condanne contro le cosche della Locride

http://www.telemia.it/2017/07/processo-acero-37-condanne-le-cosche-della-locride/
____________

The GTA Siderno Group will be affected by the sentencing of Carmelo Bruzzese, the Coluccios, the Aquinos, and members of the Marina di Gioiosa Ionica locale.

As mentioned before Vincenzo Crupi based in Holland was recorded by the Italians talking about a power struggle with the mafia in Canada.

But you don't have any evidence that Crupi and his brother-in-law, Vincenzo Macrì, were talking about mafia members other than Siderno Group members in the Greater Toronto Area. You certainly don't have any proof that they were talking about the mob war in Montreal, which you previously speculated about because a Reuters English-language article stated the following: “They are killing each other over there,"[Crupi] said in one recorded telephone call after returning from a trip to Toronto.

Let's assume Crupi was talking about the Montreal mob war. Does he sound as though the 'ndrangheta on the Italian mainland is somehow involved in that war? Or does he sound surprised, shocked, disgusted, bemused, etc.? Or does he sound as though the 'ndrangheta in Calabria has a detached stance about that war?

I prefer to stick to what the law-enforcement authorities picked up in the intercepts.

From the September 28, 2015 joint press release by the Direzione Distrettuale antimafia e antiterrorismo and the Procura della Repubblica presso il Tribunale di Reggio Calabria (I typed the excerpts below, trying as much as possible to reproduce the italics and bold fonts):

Le conversazioni ambientali intercettate tra CRUPI Vincenzo e il cognato MACRI’ Vincenzo, che forniscono anche un importante spaccato di recenti frizioni in atto tra diverse fazioni della 'ndrangheta reggina, radicate in Canada; in particolare, CRUPI, di ritorno da un viaggio a Toronto (Canada)^(12), riferisce a MACRI’ alcune importanti circostanze, apprese in Canada, riguardanti frizioni in atto tra membri di clan di 'ndrangheta presenti nell’Ontario, specie a seguito della morte del boss VERDUCI Carmine^(13), assassinato a Woodbrige, il 25 aprile 2014.

Si tratta di un importante esponente del Siderno Group, legato alla frangia COLUCCIO, guidata da COLUCCIO Giuseppe^(14).

Le propalazioni di CRUPI Vincenzo lasciano intendere come I’eliminazione di Carmine VERDUCI fosse stata pianificata e determinata dai fratelli FIGLIOMENI Angelo^(15) e Cosimo^(16), intesi i briganti, attualmente latitanti per associazione mafiosa.

Tali contenuti, per come espressamente riferito da CRUPI Vincenzo al cognato MACRI’, ponevano seriamente in evidenza i pericolo di una escalation di un conflitto armato in seno alla menzionata consorteria di 'ndrangheta, operativa da tempo in territorio canadese, per sopravvenuti contralti tra alcune frange dell’organizzazione, in particolare tra i COLUCCIO e i FIGLIOMENI.

In realtà, le conversazioni in argomento confermano la piena partecipazione della famiglia CRUPI e dei loro sodali al sodalizio mafioso transnazionale, laddove si riscontra che CRUPI, proveniente dal Canada forniva un dettagliato resoconto a MACRI’ Vincenzo circa l’esito dei suoi incontri in Canada con esponenti di vertice della 'ndrangheta, operante in quel territorio. Emergeva, tra l’altro, un significativo spaccato sull’operatività criminale di tale sodalizio, storicamente conosciuto come “Siderno Group of Crime”, confermando pienamente la sua dipendenza organizzativa e decisionale dalla “locale madre” sidernese.

No idea what his words means, was he talking about Ontario or Canada as a whole?

For Love or Money: An ‘Ndrangheta Daughter on West Africa’s Cocaine Trail

https://www.occrp.org/en/28-ccwatch/cc-w...s-cocaine-trail

Her father travelled to Canada to mediate in the tensions between the Toronto and Thunder Bay members.

Giovanni Cilia, who along with his two sons Emanuele and Rosario was arrested in relation to Operazione Acero Krupy, has had assets worth 20 million euro seized. The assets include companies, properties, land, and vehicles. The Cilias are from Vittoria in Ragusa, Sicily and have been identified as stiddari.

Link to Italian-language article:

http://www.cataniatoday.it/cronaca/maxi-sequestro-a-clan-della-stidda-19-dicembre-2017.html

Vincenzo Crupi was known in Aalsmeer, Holland for years as a hard-working flower trader, who stood up before dawn every morning to go to the auction. You would never suspect he's a top guy in the 'ndrangheta.

The hands of Italian organized crime in the largest flower market in the world. So from Amsterdam the drug arrives throughout Europe

"Those in the Ndrangheta have been arrested, but drug trafficking from Holland through the largest flower market in the world has not stopped. It is always in the hands of the Italians: now behind the whole business there are some Pugliese groups ».
Jaap Koijker, a Dutch entrepreneur in the field of flowers who for many years worked with characters linked to the Calabrian clans, is convinced of this.

Italian article: http://www.corriere.it/video-articoli/20...913959e9e.shtml

Severe sentences have been handed down in relation to Operazione Acero-Krupy.

‘Ndrangheta, cocaina dall’Olanda all’Italia: condanne per 80 anni di carcere

http://www.latina24ore.it/latina/144780/crupi-condanne-latina-cocaina/

Vincenzo Macrì has been extradited to Italy.

Reggio Calabria, 'Ndrangheta: estradato in Italia il latitante Vincenzo Macrì, il “boss dei due mondi”

http://www.strettoweb.com/2018/06/reggio-calabria-ndrangheta-latitante-vincenzo-macri/711880/

Fugitive Italian mafia boss of Europe's leading cocaine traffickers is extradited

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...cocaine-traffickers-extradited-Rome.html

You can see the resemblance to his father Antonio Macrì.

Antonio Coluccio has been sentenced in Italy to 30 years.

https://www.newz.it/2018/07/18/processo-acero-antonio-coluccio-condannato-a-30-anni-5-assolti/307221

Former GTA resident convicted of Mafia charges in Italy

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...convicted-of-mafia-charges-in-italy.html

^^^^
Heavy prison sentence in Italy against mobster likely ends his yearning to return to Canada

http://nationalpost.com/wcm/a252eb1d-d556-4f96-86f7-aa9f9b0b5215

Vent'anni di carcere al figlio del “boss dei due mondi” Macrì

https://reggio.gazzettadelsud.it/ar...cri-79297337-ffa5-45fe-a536-a8895bf0f9ec

Acquittal on appeal for 'Ndrangheta suspects
8 June 2019

Two Italian brothers, Vincenzo and Rocco Crupi, who were previously convicted as' Ndrangheta members who used the Aalsmeer flower auction for smuggling , have been acquitted by the Italian court on appeal, the Algemeen Dagblad reports .

The Crupi brothers were arrested in 2015 in Aalsmeer, where they lived and worked. The Italian justice department counts them as the mafiaclan of the 'Ndrangheta from the southern Italian Siderno. In the first instance they received 20 years (Vincenzo) and 15 years (Rocco) cell. Last week they were released from prison, report Italian media.

On appeal, the professional judges do not consider their mafia membership to be proven. A large sum of cash found by the judiciary apparently does not necessarily come from drug trafficking. It may also be related to the flower trade. The substantiation of the judgment has not yet appeared.

Vincenzo C. has been active at the flower auction in Aalsmeer since the 90s. He bought cut flowers all over the world and sent them to Italy. Justice saw that trade as a cover.

‪‘Ndrangheta nella Locride, pene rideterminate e assoluzioni in Appello

https://www.ilreggino.it/cronaca/20...-rideterminate-e-assoluzioni-in-appello/

‘NDRANGHETA: PER I CRUPI DUE ASSOLUZIONI E FORTI SCONTI DI PENA

https://latinatu.it/ndrangheta-per-i-crupi-due-assoluzioni-e-forti-sconti-di-pena/

Gli affari dei clan di Siderno e Gioiosa, 27 condanne per oltre due secoli di carcere

https://reggio.gazzettadelsud.it/ar...re-feb75ce2-4343-416c-b2a6-3f743101a6d2/

Olanda, il narcotraffico nelle mani delle mafie italiane

https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/ho...ico-nelle-mani-delle-mafie-italiane.html

The Netherlands is a major producer and leading distributor of cannabis, heroin, cocaine , amphetamines and other synthetic drugs that's the main reason all the major drug traffickers are based here.
Without the corruption here they couldn't move these huge loads of narcotics throughout Europe or even import it from Colombia.

it's an exagerration, there are several groups that move tons of drugs,not italian mafia only, the real strenght of italian mafia groups are politics conncetions inside eu and italy, and its huge richness, but concerning drug trafficking although ndrangheta is probably the single biggest coke mover it doesn't dominate aside italy

The Italians control the dutch drug trade to Italy and to some degree to Germany major markets, but to UK there are other groups of British-Irish origin.

yes, they controls something this and there in belgium, germany, switzerland, france etc. but aside italy they role in drug trafficking is marginal

The Netherlands is one of the most contaminated countries by the Calabrese 'ndrangheta, because of its strategic location as a transit port for drugs and the investment climate. This is what former mafia leader Luigi Bonaventura said in 2019. “All in all, the Netherlands is a good territory for business, for investment. There are many opportunities. It is one of the most contaminated countries. My top 3 would be Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands ”, says the former boss.

ndrangheta is overrated anyway, if cosa nostra wouldn' t do what it did in the 1990s it would be the end for italian mafia, the freemasons just have to thanks cosa nostra

Several turncoats both Calabrian and Sicilian have claimed Cosa Nostra is the highest authority above both Camorra and 'Ndrangheta.

Why do you think it would have been the end for them? Those bombings in the 1990s only drew unwanted attention to the mafia, without them the mafia would have been in a more confortable position imo....

Proceeding from when Mandala and Nicchi were meeting with Cali, are you saying the whole if the sicilian mafia still possessed tremendous liquidity?

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Blackberries...
Things ours: analysis of the new relations between the Sicilian and American mafia
The Sicilian clans need to recover the lost ground against Camorra and 'Ndrangheta and ask for help from their "cousins" in the USA
by Vincenzo Musacchio

16 Nov 2020
Cosa Nostra from Palermo after a period of crisis must give itself a definitive organization to restore full criminal operations and it does so by re-weaving relations with American mafia families.
A little over a year ago, a criminal pact was discovered between the mafia family of the Inzerillo of Passo di Rigano in Palermo and some mafia families residing in the United States of America. From the investigations of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Palermo, significant contacts emerged with the Gambino mafia family of New York held by Simone Zito with Thomas Gambino and Frank Calì, considered by the American investigators to be extremely dangerous criminals. The contacts between these two mafias, who have never severed their umbilical cord, could have increased in recent months, as the Sicilian gangs need to recover the lost ground against Camorra and 'Ndrangheta.

The Sicilian Cosa Nostra is well known for being present in the United States and despite the murder of Frank Calì, considered the bridge between the two mafia associations, their contacts continue for a series of common criminal affairs and strategies. Since the "Piazza Connection" investigation, conducted by Giovanni Falcone in collaboration with Rudolph Giuliani , the two mafias have been doing business mainly with large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as with counterfeiting of currency and goods and lately also with the traffic of toxic waste. For both the FBI and the DDA of Palermo, the relations between the Sicilian and American mafia hide new business and relations that are advantageous for both.

Before being assassinated, Calì had met Nicola Mandalà and Gianni Nicchi in the United States, who had come specially from Palermo. Their American contacts were Pietro Inzerillo and their brother-in-law, Frank Calì. From these contacts it is easy to assume that the return to Sicily of the so-called “escaped” is being prepared: the Gambinos, the Inzerillos, the Spatola. Some of them had lost the mafia war in Sicily against the Corleonesi and had taken refuge in the United States. From there they have returned in recent years. For this reason, the murder of Calì and the continuation of new criminal contacts suggest fibrillations not only in New York, but also in Palermo.

What has been written so far is obviously also reflected in the report of the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Department of the first half of 2020 which signals a strengthening of relations between members of some historical families of the Palermo Cosa Nostra, with the American Cosa Nostra. Many mafiosi have returned to Palermo, they have recovered the ancient mafia power, especially thanks to relations with overseas bosses. With the death of Riina, the Corleonesi would be inclined to new agreements it seems even with the approval of Matteo Messina Denaro. Therefore, there is a new mafia scenario characterized by an urgent need for a modern structure for both Sicilians and Americans. The compactness of the Italian-American partnership, the criminal influence, military power and the "political" role of individual families, districts and their respective top structures play a fundamental role in defining new relations, consequently for the '' identification of new strategies and new balances between the two mafia associations.

After a period of crisis, the Cosa Nostra from Palermo must give itself a definitive organization to restore full criminal operations and it does so by re-weaving relations with American mafia families. Cosa Nostra has experienced a long stalemate in the development of operational strategies and now it seems to be raising its head with the aim of returning to its ancient "splendor", when it was the most feared and powerful mafia in Italy. To prevent this from happening, the main objective should be to fully restore the rule of law and for this we will need strong and credible institutions and to reinvigorate investigative and judicial cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime.

Also, the asset siezures.... they got a boss on tape saying something like, " Thry siezed all our property, they didnt take any of yours, ( Inzerillos).

there are still many things that are not known about that period, starting with the fact messina denaro is still free

Traffico di droga nella Locride, due condanne e quattro assoluzioni

https://reggio.gazzettadelsud.it/ar...cride-due-condanne-e-quattro-assoluzioni

Tulipani, cioccolato e cocaina. La 'ndrangheta dall'Olanda alla Locride

https://www.31mag.nl/tulipani-cioccolato-e-cocaina-la-ndrangheta-dallolanda-alla-locride/

Good stuff I never realized the Siderno Group has been active in The Netherlands since 1988.

Ndrangheta nella Locride, 13 condanne e due assoluzioni in Cassazione

https://www.ilreggino.it/cronaca/20...ondanne-e-due-assoluzioni-in-cassazione/

Locride: processo Acero-Krupy, confermate le condanne ai clan di Siderno e Marina di Gioiosa

https://reggio.gazzettadelsud.it/ar...sa-489e23eb-1d78-4065-b7db-982952f48839/

The 'ndrangheta has become freemasonry, the rituals everything.