Colombia captures Italian alleged member of the 'ndrangheta mafia
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOV. 30, 2023 9:26 AM PT
BOGOTA — BOGOTÁ (AP) — Colombian authorities reported on Thursday the capture of an Italian who is believed to be part of the 'ndrangheta mafia and is wanted by his country of origin for the crime of drug trafficking.
The 'ndrangheta mafia has accumulated power in Italy and abroad and is accused of importing cocaine into Europe.

Massimo Gigliotti was captured in Barranquilla, a city in the Colombian Caribbean, where the judicial and intelligence police followed him and found that he frequented a bar with an automatic submachine gun in sight, according to the Colombian police.

The 55-year-old man was wanted under an Interpol red notice, a request for countries around the world to locate and arrest a person with pending legal cases.

The director of the Colombian police, General William Salamanca Ramírez, said in a video released to the press from Vienna that Massimo was located thanks to police cooperation with the Italian authorities.

According to Salamanca, the captured person had been visiting South America since 2018 to “traffic cocaine” to Europe.

Gigliotti is accused of allegedly leading the distribution of cocaine hidden in legal merchandise on large vessels with a final destination in Italy.