He could also be a very important witness in Italy against the 'Ndrangheta.
He is wanted by the Italian judiciary for his complicity in various international drug trafficking operations, in which the 'Ndrangheta is also involved. In particular he was involved in the Takeoff operation which led to the arrest of 159 people, including Natale Scali (Gioiosa Jonica) and Santo Scipione (San Luca). And through the AUC Mancuso would have sent 8 tons of cocaine to the port of Gioia Tauro .
Salvatore Mancuso , former 'number two' of Colombia's United Self Defense (AUC, paramilitaries), will be expelled from the United States in early September, where he served a long prison sentence for drug trafficking, and transferred to Italy. The newspaper El Tiempo in Bogotà writes it today.
The newspaper, citing sources close to Mancuso's lawyer, JoaquÃn Pérez, indicates that "a US federal judge accepted the arguments of the defense of the former commander, who is the son of an Italian emigrant, and ordered his deportation to Italy ". During the hearing, adds El Tiempo, “a prosecutor, April Denis Seabrook, was asked if he represented the United States government. You said yes and added that you were committed to transferring Mancuso to Italy before 4 September ».
The lawyer Pérez confirmed his defendant's willingness to be sent to Italy, arguing that his right to freedom has so far been violated after 12 years in prison. At the hearing, the judge asked to be informed of the place where, once free, Mancuso will observe the quarantine linked to the pandemic . Apparently this "will not be in the Salerno region, from where his father emigrated to Colombia".
On Thursday, says El Tiempo, the former leader of the AUC will be transferred to New York from where, according to US federal sources, a Delta flight, operated by Alitalia, leaves for Rome. If effective, the transfer of Mancuso to Italy and not to Colombia would be attributable to procedural errors committed in the past by Bogotà in the extradition request.
But on Sunday the Colombian foreign ministry issued a statement in which it assured that the government has completed all "the formalities required by law for the extradition of the former paramilitary chief", accused of 136 massacres with over 800 deaths. Finally, the government and police recalled that three Interpol 'red code' circulars are active against the former paramilitary commander for existing trials in the homeland.
