Calabrians already rule NY?

Guerra tra Boss, vince la 'Ndrangheta

Nice article in the Repubblica. It says that the calabrians already took over New York and the leading Italian crime family is the "Ursino". It says that the calabrians made an offer to the sicilians five families which they could not refuse. Also it touches the ongoing war in Canada.
I'm sorry the article is available only in Italian

I used Google translate and got the basic just of the article. It cites two of the few Ndrangheta-linked drug cases that we've seen in recent years but not much evidence as far as taking over the ports, giving the Sicilians and Americans an offer they can't refuse, etc. Maybe this is conjecture based on the changing landscape in Canada? They have a presence but to say the Calabrians have taken over the drug routes into New York, at least as far as Italian OC goes, seems premature.

We do know of 'Ndrangheta's attempt to gain a foothold in the New York area in recent years, but to control all the drug routes is something else.

Dominicans and all those little latin islands control probaly 90 percent of the coke n dope n nyc. So this shit wrong.

Anyone able to post a translated version?

@Ivey

I'd you notice the chart they have up? It looks to chart the supply countries, to the markets, and what family controls what, as far as the NY traffic is concerned, I think....

I agree.

Europe or Ontario is a different story. Most of the coke the Calabrians are moving is going to Europe anyway.

If I'm not mistaken from memory, the Ursino clan is the one that made the alliance with the Gambino family, in the indictment with the guy that got 14 years, the Lupoi guy. In that indictment, it said the Gambinos brought their " South American contacts to bear".

It looks to mention the Queens bust, Gigliotti I think his name is right?

@Ivey

I don't think you actually NEED to take over the NY ports to get drugs into NY. More like just a good cover business usually does the trick. I think the Ursinos were using vegetables and fish? I mean there are a million ways, but it can be expensive the more elaborate you get, making the actual per kilo value higher for yourself, meaning it's harder to move the stuff quickly. That's why most just try to bribe someone, or a few KEY someone's. It's cheaper I guess, I keep wondering why the hell these guys keep using like the most obvious things, fish, flour, canned food.

Of course now, this is where maybe the NY families come in...... I'm trying to get a translation, gotta read the whole thing....

I think this article might be, how do you say, "Europe-centric?".
I'm thinking the article is from the perspective from over there, that the Calabrians have a solid outpost in NY, and thus have "beat" any of the other European crime groups to the top of the narcotics trade.


Case in point to what Pmac said, both the big Calabrian coke bust were export operations, that coke was going OUT the country.

Does it say what exactly the "offer" was?

Yeah, that NY is an outpost for their cocaine trafficking sounds right, but it's interesting that they have established links to three of the five families.

I think alot of these calabrians are moving stateside individually to try and set up their own little cocaine operations using family and friends they have on either side of the ocean rather than the head of their clan or whatever ordering them to come to the USA. Almost like a gold rush type of situation, get as much cocaine as possible and send it over. The larger conspiracy with lupoi was probably much more backed up by leadership people than the pizzeria conspiracy because that involved them shipping directly from south america i think.

@ Hollander

It is, interesting. Especially in light of recent indictments when you see the type of white collar money the Genoveses are capable of bringing in.

My initial take was kinda like, the Gambinos were going into narcotics big again on an international scale, ever since Old Bridge. They put together New Bridge, playing Barzini, got the Bonnanos to be their Tattaglias, and this kinda compelled the Genovese to get involved only on a financing and maybe investment/laundering/logistics basis. Like the Corleones.

You have to wonder what the NY families have to gain from coke going OUT OF NY? To Europe and Oceania? And Canada?

I feel that maybe a little bit of hyperbole on their part. Was it the gambinos " south american contacts" or just that lupoi knew someone that sold kilo gram quantities of cocaine.

Good points, in the Pizza Connection days the Sicilians could deal junk but the American families would take a %, i think not much has changed in this day and age.

@scorcese

That's a good take on it. It's like Canada is the Siderno group, high command, top families. But the two NY bust look to be single family clans, looking to get a better position for themselves in the trade.

Awhile back, Ivey posted something that showed Australia split up by 39 Italian family clans. I think supply is a free for all, but when the territory to move it comes into play, that's where Ndrangheta rules come into play

You are right on the pizza thing too, that coke was from Costa Rica, if I'm not mistaken. The South American coke would have been cheaper by maybe , say 4-5 grand per kilo?

Costa Rica is a key country in the coke business and also for gambling.

A cut of the loot? Any place the Calabrians establish a distribution route, they're going to have to work with someone. Who better for them to work with in NYC than one of the FF?

I know about Costa Rica, back in 2000 it cost 200$ to setup a gambling site there, I looked into it back then, lol

I guess NY is becoming for ndrangheta what Chicago is for Sinaloa.

I pretty much said before that ndrangheta primarily would be interested in only narcotic trafficking, and if they needed help, or if the five families wanted into the narcotics markets, they would most likely work together. But I don't think they would take a no, just like the Sicilians in the 80s.

@ Scorsese

I wouldn't be so quick to discount that Gambino South American contacts.
I wish I remembered the thread, but there was a map that showed the interest of all the Italian crime syndicates operating in South America. It was mostly Calabrians, I believe only the Licciardis of Naples were for the cammora, there was the Sicilian Badalamenti clan, and most interestingly, a Buscetta organization operating out of BRAZIL. Now there was another thread, about a report on OC in jersey from 83, I think. In it they had Buscettas SON as a made Gambino member. Don't know if anyone's looked into it.....
It's why I see old bridge, new bridge, all this stuff is a continuation of the same thing. See the Sicilian mafia sent representatives over here to deal with Cali. Specifically, he was arranging kilogram loads of coke in the 500-1000 kilo range.
That's enough to basically supply the Palermo families. So there hadto have been some heavyweight connection there. When they got busted' the calabrians basically muscled into that position, as they have positioned themselves to handle ALL coke coming into Europe.

See the Ursino family could just get coke from Canada, right? From a Siderno group family, think about it. Why would they NEED the Gambinos? The Calabrians , historically, dealt directly with Salvatore Mancuso in Colombia, they HAD A DIRECT LINE TO THE COKE. So why use Gambino contacts, when they built up trust with the Colombians over a period of years? think the Gambinos have been trying to reestablish their pre-corleonesi position in the international drug trade. It's why Canada figures so heavily as well. The Rizzutos, kinda took the Gambinos slot as the top Italian American traffickers. With them being knocked down a notch, I saw New Bridge as the Gambinos and Calabrians basically carving it up amongst themselves.

I think only the Siderno group has a lock on coke, everyone else is trying to get their own supply, I wish Sinatra or antimafia were in on this, they know ALL THE PLAYERS, they could explain it better....

Here the translated article




From New York to Australia, the investigations of the police over the world tell us that the Calabrian clans defeated Cosa Nostra in the struggle for control of the world's trafficking routes. Here's how the new crime bosses have knocked out the old godfathers.


Laval, a suburb in the north of Montreal, Canada. First of March . Lorenzo Giordano stops the blue SUV Kia on the snowy asphalt of the parking, of the Carrefour Multisports, close to highway 440. Turn off the motor, the crucifix tied to the rearview mirror is swinging. Are the 8:45, the morning is cold. A killer comes out on the machine side and shoots him in the head and throat, shattering the window glass. Lorenzo "Skunk" Giordano, 52, died shortly after in hospital.

Carlton, Italian neighborhood of Melbourne, Australia. March 15. A tanned man with nicely combed hair comes out Gelobar, his ice cream shop. He is walking, it's just past midnight. It is alone, and the road is dark. They shoot in the shoulders, shooting from a moving car, without stop the car.

Three hours later a garbage man comes down from the truck near the dumpster. Close there is the corpse of Joseph "Pino" Acquaro, 50, a prominent lawyer. Again Laval, May 27. At the bus stop on Boulevard St. Elzéar is seated a man, in his thirties, dressed all in black. black shoes, blacks pants, black jacket, glasses blacks. Are the 8.30.The white Bmw of Rocco Sollecito, as planned, passes on the boulevard. The traffic light is red, it stops. Black man gets up and points gun against the car window. Rocco "Sauce" Sollecito, 62, slides on the seat, smeared with his blood, shot dead.

Italians who speak English and shoot. Other Italians who speak English and die. Canada, Australia, United States. Reggio Calabria. The blood earthquake has a silent epicenter, New York. And emerging clans who took too much power, as the Ursinos the 'ndranghetists of Gioiosa Ionica. The shock wave has spread across the planet. Lives drowned in the lead "Skunk", "Pino" and "Sauce" are aftershocks. They call it the "world war of the Mafia".

THE SIXTH FAMILY. New York, then. Nothing is as before. The big five Cosa Nostra families, Gambino, Bonanno, Lucchese, Genovese and Colombo are no longer what they were. This is documented by the latest investigations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), conducted together with investigators from the Central Operations Service (Sco) of the Italian police.

Last Thursday, the FBI has captured another 46, including Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut: capos, made men and associates of Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno. It also finished inside the 23 year old John Gotti Jr., the nephew of the last great American Cosa Nostra boss.

Besieged by inquiries and weakened by a difficult generational change , the Sicilians are yielding space in a seemingly almost completely bloodless way to the Calabrian Mafia. In the Big Apple, the Commisso clan and of the Aquino-Coluccio clan have settled from years, but who is claiming for himself the role of "sixth family" are the the Ursino of Gioiosa Ionica. And that's a problem for everyone.



A sixth family, in fact, is already there. While not allowed in the New York criminal elite, the Rizzuto of Montreal, in Canada, have historically close ties with the Bonanno. If there is to set up a business of a certain weight - lots of cocaine, illegal weapons, money laundering - they are the referents . A report that by a bit 'of time is no longer so solid.
Between 2012 and 2013 an FBI confidential source reveals that Francesco Ursino, the boss of the homonymous clan historic ally of Cataldos of Locri, asked the Gambino to work on New York streets "just like a sixth family" . Asked so to speak. In this round are the Sicilian Cosa Nostra to be faced with an offer he can not refuse, because when he knocked on the door of the Gambino.

Francesco Ursino actually had already taken everything: the trafficking routes, contacts with Mexican and Colombian cartels, control of ports and cargos. The boss was speaking on behalf of not only one family, but of what the investigators in the investigation New Bridge (which will lead to the capture of the boss) define a "consortium" of the Locri clan. To refuse would have meant for Gambino wage a senseless war, and an uncertain outcome. Better to agree and accept the fact. On the global market for cocaine, "'Ndrangheta rules".

The BROKER AND THE SOUTH AMERICAN Cartels. The Calabrians worked in the shadows for years in New York, in the basements of their pizzerias and in the back room of their "Italian restaurant". Flied to Bogota and San Jose in the weekend, posing as tourists. "If you want to know what happens in New York, look for in Central America; if you want to know what happens among the Cartels of the Gulf look who's boss in New York," says Anna Sergi, criminologist at the University of Essex, a scholar the projections of ' 'Ndrangheta abroad. And in Central and South America happens that the Calabrian command. Mark the territory. Engage intermediaries. Shoot as little as possible. More finance, less trouble.

Deep throat who explained to the Goddess and the FBI what was moving in the criminal underbelly of the Big Apple is called Christopher Castellano. He owns a nightclub in Queens, the Kristal's, which he uses to hide what it really is: a broker of Los Zetas, the dangerous Mexican cartel paramilitary of army deserters who uses him to trade drugs in the States and in Europe . With drug traffickers, Christopher made a lot of money.

The party did not last long, though. They arrested him in 2008, and he, just to get out of jail,flips. Sells to the two Calabrian policemen: Giulio Schirripa and that "Greg." He tells the story of these two Italians who, using the pizzerias as cover and the money of the 'Ndrangheta as collateral, are moving tons of cocaine hidden in cans of fruit transported by container ships. "They have a pipeline across the oceans," says Castellano.

If run large white powder stocks , which from Costa Rica reach the US, Canada, the Old World and Australia, it is their stuff. Distribute, sorting, organizing trips of ships, open up bogus companies to import-export, corrupt customs officials. In New York, they go to dinner with the Genovese. In San José meet with the men of Arnoldo de Jesus Rojas Guzman, the leader of Alajuela cartel. In Reggio Calabria refer to Alvaro clan. They are "facilitators", unexpected because uncensored: create the conditions to bring the white powder from the laboratories in the jungle of Costa Rica to the consumer nose. Schirripa, arrested along with Castellano, is the archetype Calabrian emigrants to the conquer New York. Gregory "Greg" Gigliotti, the epigone.

Christopher Castellano has become dead flesh in the moment when he opened his mouth with federal agents. July fourth of 2010, the United States celebrates Independence Day. In Howard Beach, Queens, the show of fireworks has just begun before midnight. But Castellano has no eyes, is fumbling budgets to look for the car keys. One shot, back of the head. Nobody notices anything. Castellano won't flips to the FBI again.


THE MAN WHO ATE THE HEART. Meanwhile, however, investigators have tapped the phones and filled with bugs restaurants of Gigliotti in Queens, including the famous 'Cucino a modo mio' mentioned in trendy magazines. "There is not a gram of cocaine in Europe that has not passed through the hands of Gregory", often repeating his Italian associates, terrified by the bluster of Gigliotti.
When he gets angry, with his Calabrian dialect, mixed of American slang can say terrible things: "I once ate a piece of kidney and a piece of heart ", he yells with his wife, irritated by another Calabrian who is trying to fit in his business. The center of his business is Costa Rica, where he had direct contact with drug traffickers thanks to a dense network of brokers and trustees. "And tell him do not do too much the clever ..." he repeats them, when they send them to deal in South America.

He accumulates money, the policemen of the SCO and the FBI listen and anticipate some of his moves. The port of Antwerp, 16 pounds of cocaine seized. Port of Valencia 40 pounds, Wilmington 44 pounds. Port of Rotterdam 3 tons. Then on 8 May arrest him. He ends up inside her son, Angelo. But a few weeks later back into the wild, with a five million dollars bail. Paid in cash.

THE CANADIAN SLAUGHTER. Out of the game the referents of the Alvaro, New York is taken by the Ursino. Including contacts with the South Americans. The earthquake shook reverberate in Canada, where the hierarchies crumble. And with them the pax mafiosa. Since the eighties, the italian criminals emigrants there had divided the business between Toronto and Montreal. To the sicilian Rizzutos the drugs, to the Calabrian arrived from Siderno the gambling,and the loansharking. The map was designed in 2010, by Italians investigators who worked on the maxi investigation 'Crime' (which for the first time identified all the ndrangheta vertices) and is still valid. Three years ago Vito Rizzuto, the boss, dies of cancer.

In the following months, coinciding with the rise of the Ursino in the North American quadrant four of the six members of the "Council", of the Rizzutos are killed. The other two are saved only because they are in jail. The last to die was Rocco "Sauce" Sollecito. A few weeks ago in Montreal he was going to end in a coffin Marco Pizzi, 46, cocaine importer for the clans according to police, escaped by a whisker to his assassins that had buffered with a stolen car. They were masked and armed. "The Calabrian attacked the old powers", reasons an investigator. "It's' Ndrangheta against mafia". The world war, then.

THE AUSTRALIAN FAIDA. The trail of blood stretches until to Australia, where the Calabrian coup on cocaine routes destabilized balances that are held up by the end of the seventies. The Barbaro family seems to have lost his force, and contacts with new importers would pass into the hands of Tony and Frank Madafferi. In Melbourne the Calabrian fight against the Calabrian. Frank Madafferi and Pasquale "Pat" Barbaro were investigated in 2008 in the trial for the biggest load of methamphetamine ever intercepted in the history of the fight against drug trafficking 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy, for a value of 500 million Australian dollars (340 million euro) in tablets stowed in a ship carrying cans of peeled tomatoes. But that trial is not the only thing that Tony and Pat Madafferi Barbaro, then sentenced to life imprisonment, have in common.

To join them, as often happens, even the lawyer's choice: the professional Italian-American Joseph Acquaro. Man found dead by the garbage man in front of the ice cream, last March. Investigations are still at stake although a couple of items have attracted the attention on Madafferi: in particular some interceptions stating he own Melbourne ("It is mine, not of Pasquale") and says he is ready to kill the rival ( "I eat his throat"). But above all the story of a repentant who explained to the police as the gangster underworld of Melbourne everyone to know the reward that Tony had just put on the lawyer's head, apparently guilty of having started to talk a bit 'too much with journalists and investigators: 200 thousand Australian dollars.

AN ARREST IN FIUMICINO. Those who have cashed it is not known. What is known is that a few days before the murder, at Fiumicino airport the Locri police arrested Antonio Vottari, 31, accused of running drug trafficking between South America and Europe on behalf of the clans of San Luca. He is returning from Melbourne, where for years he spent his fugitive with a student visa. The tide of the mafia World War was decided in Calabria.
Everything starts from there. And all, sooner or later, there comes back.

I just think the article goes a little far with some of its claims. The 5 NY families weakened by investigations and generational shift? That's true. Sicilians moving aside for Calabrians? Possibly? We've seen a steady rise in number of Ndrangheta-related busts in NY and they've always involved people connected to the NY families.

But it claims the Ursino clan, if I'm reading it correctly, is like a sixth family in the city now, controls all the big cocaine and weapons shipments, as well as money laundering, with its contacts to the Mexican and Colombian cartels and control of the ports and cargo.

It's obvious the Calabrians are involved in this stuff, partnering with the NY families, but I don't see evidence they have the kind of numbers or presence where they could be considered a sixth family or force any NY family into a partnership with threat of war.

And that "sixth family" label gets thrown around too much.

One thing I do find interesting though is a statement recently made by the FBI (see below) that the NY families have increased their involvement in drug trafficking, often working together as well as with other crime groups.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/08/mob_1.html

Yes Ivy I think the same thing. The ndrangheta prefered to make bussiness in the shadow and don't had reason to don't cooperate with the 5 families; for sure the Ursinos have men in NY but in another article is said that all the coke ring made 12 milion a Year, very few respect the pizza connection.
For me the article understand that is true that the Calabrians take off the drugs pipeline but that start a war also in New York is exagerate.

Yes what we have seen are cells mostly blood relatives, but if they have enough members in NYC they will form a locale (the main local organizational unit of the 'Ndrangheta).

Yep, that's the way it goes according to Luigi Bonaventura:



Taken from this article from 2012: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cri...nd-7876558.html

Lello Valente the leader in NYC said he had a group of men and that their base was as secure as Fort Knox. Not sure how many though, but he only got three years for gunrunning so he will be out soon.

According to the FBI they are also active in the Miami area, but I couldn't find further information.

I think its more accurate to say that individuals within the gambino crime family have south american contacts or access to drug dealers that do stateside.Its more of an opportunistic thing than an effort by the five families to rekindle a partnership with italians.

Ill give you that operation old bridge showed some concerted effort by higher ups in both the gambino and sicilian mob to rekindle some sort of official relationship. What were the specific drug charges in that case though? From what i have read it seems that frank cali was helping his relatives launder proceeds of crime in america.

In the recent big case you had an associate lupoi who was the driving force behind the ateempted drug deal. Again he happened to have relatives in the ndrangeta or something and also knew drug dealers too who were helping him set up the deal in guyana. It wasnt the gambino crime family administration giving him a rolodex of thier south american contacts, it was just him working with people he had probably met through criminal dealings and relatives of his. As for ursino family not buying their cocaine in canada, unless theirs some rule that says they have to buy drugs in canada theirs nothing stopping them from setting up their own supply route or even doing just one big drug deal.

Ooh, no one said the FIVE FAMILIES were rekindling the drug connection. Just the Gambinos, who since the at least the late sixties-early seventies, were knee deep in the drug trade. The families have stepped up their involvement in NY,I think that's the article Ivey was referring to.

I agree on the opportunistic part, if they have a reliable Italian supplier for coke and dope, the families would most likely be attracted to this, as opposed to buying from Dominicans or Mexicans.




The Gambinos, and Bonnanos were structurally tied into the drug trade, that's why the Ursino case is interesting, because it's a continuation of how the Gambinos have operated in the past, only before it was always with Palermo mafia families.


That Old Bridge case was about much more than them needing a conduit for money laundering. They didn't have to violate the standing pact of the Inzerillos never returning to Sicily in order to launder money in America. How were the Inzerillos going to launder Sicilian money in America from Sicily? Also you gotta consider the rep of some of the indicted, guys like Casamento, and the Inzerillos, historical drug traffickers.

They seemed to present the Ursino thing as ongoing, like it had been happening for awhile. Same deal with the queens thing.

If you look at the Calabrian thing, they set up a cell HERE to operate, whereas the Sicilians sent representatives to negotiate, and then, basically, the Inzerillos tried the reverse, by sending a cell THERE, TO Sicily.

In terms of Old Bridge, Look at all the reports on Sicily in recent years. From people refusing to pay the pizzo, to them tolerating the Spaniard Fernandez for his drug connects, then killing him when he didn't deliver. ( Not going to see Vito sealed his fate) To using Afican immigrants to move drugs on the streets. They have been trying to make up,for the loss of revenue it seems.

I'm honestly a little confused, you don't think Old Bridge was about a reeestablishment of drug routes? I mean in New Bridge it plainly says the Ursinos wanted to launder about 11 million. But the underlying purpose, of course is drugs.

Let me ask you this, do you think this whole show STOPPED with Lupoi? Like after he got arrested, you think both parties stopped trying to move dope back and forth. The Calabrians said they have a base inNY. I don't really think the absence of Lupoi will affect anything. The chain is too big, the ties run too deep.

As far as the big cocaine shipment id say the feds put a stop to that before it got started.The undercover caught whilst they were trying to set it up. I can believe that he had engaged much more low level drug deals and criminal activity with ndrangeta members in the past as demonstrated by the 1 kilo of heroin he and ursino sold to the undercover and also the few guns the other ndrabgeta members sold to the undercover.



Well yeah because he seemed to be the main guy trying to put that deal together and he got busted his relatives in italy who were supposed to recieve the coke or possibly trade it for heroin got busted to.The calabrians could have a base in ny. But that doesnt mean they are working with the gambinos. They could be working with mexicans, dominicans or anyone that could supply them with large amounts of cocaine to ship back to italy.

I kinda get your point, but not really......


Take the Dominicans right? I don't think they would have an incentive to work with the the Italians. They got their supply from Colombians and their distribution base in Washington heights right? You gotta understand the Dominicans aren't global like that. They are regional in the North east. None of these top guys are going to BUY COKE IN NY, ITS TOO EXPENSIVE AT THAT POINT. It's already made its way from South America and been marked up already. That's the whole point of going that far, to get it in the 10-15 range, so you can get it up here and sell it for 30-50 grand. That's how you wholesale and make money without touching the streets. The Dominicans are in the streets.

Look at the queens thing. They bought coke in COSTA RICA? Why would they do this, if they could get the same price in NY from a Mexican cartel or Dominican? Doesn't that seem like an over complication? They coulda just bought in bulk in NY and shipped it to wherever. Also notice, they didn't bother retailing in NY, it's all export. And from what I can tell, a different operation entirely. If they buy the coke in NY, financially, I don't even think it would make sense, unless they were retailing. Contrast that with the Sinaloa bust in Buffalo, a retail operation.

There are subtleties here I think you might be overlooking. It's a little weird you don't connect the two cases, I thought it was pretty clear, that why the Feds call em old and new bridge. I don't think it will stop, or has stopped. Old bridge was almost ten years ago,and here they are still trying to tap into that international drug money.
Like the Genovese being involved is the more stranger development, the Gambinos have HISTORIC NARCOTICS TIES. Like dude, if not for the whole Michele Sindona bank collapse fiasco, they woulda probably still been on top. They lost a LOT of money and power behind that.
I kinda get what you mean with Lupoi being, somewhat of an isolated incident. He's Calabrian, the Gambinos are Sicilian. But look at the global trends; Even the Caruana-Cun-trera clan went with the Calabrian.


Im just saying, don't think it ended with that Lupoi arrest, notice he took the fall for everyone basically....... I suspect there will be more developments.

It's mostly the Brooklyn guys (John Gambino) within the Gambino Family, who are close to the 'Ndrangheta.

The clans Aquino, Coluccio, Scali, Ursino, Macrì, Commisso and Crupi have a presence in New York.

That's pretty interesting, any idea where they operate, with whom, or if they have specific alliances with any families?

If this is true, why is everyone skeptical about the Ursinos being in NY?

Or the Gambino family moving drugs. I find it kinda amusing it's this much in dispute,that THIS family, like of all the families they are the MOST likely to be moving large amounts of drugs.

Also, are those the seven Toronto clans, or no? I know some of em are, are the Ursinos one of them?

Wait a minute, are there seven or nine locals?

According to interceptions in the operation Crimine there would be 9 in Canada.

I was more disputing the idea that the gambino family were trying to expand their drug trafficking activities through this as a group. Their probably are a large number of drug dealers in the gambino family, but that doesnt mean they are all working together in some large conspiracy.

Ursinos could be operating in NY but so are many different crime groups from all over the world. Just because they caught a few guys working together doesnt mean the gambinos are somehow the middlemen for them.

That makes sense. And it's very possible, even likely I'm reaching on this. There is just too many unknowns at this point, it's all pretty interesting though.

If there are that many Calabrian clans already with people there, the Gambino involvement is probably more like Hollander said, financial and support.

I do have one point though, as far as cocaine, I always assumed the Gambinos were securing it for their Sicilian partners inEurope, not for NY distribution. I think that's the main difference, I see the Gambino family drug trade,as more like the SICILIAN GAMBINO/Palermo clan drug trade. Like a coke version of the Pizza connection. Have you guys ever heard of Guiseppe Spatola from Palermo?

so my understanding is there coming to nyc to find drug connects to send to italy. i mean nyc is the coke and dope capital of the world i would think.

I always figured coke would be the export and dope would be the import. Given our proximity to South America and their proximity to the Middle East

Exactly everyone has representatives in New York. I wouldn't be suprised if some of these guys were working with albanians who have had a few of their mobs go down trafficking schemes involving large quantities.

I don't doubt the Ursinos and other Ndrangheta figures operate in New York. I'm just sceptical of the scope and influence the article gave them.

The question of the Gambinos or the NY Mafia in general moving large amounts of drugs is a relative one. They do move significant amounts of drugs at the wholesale level. But the LCN has been marginalized in the drug trade to a large degree and, even when partnering with IOC groups, don't move the levels that strictly DTO's, like the Mexicans and Colombians, do.

The NY families may have been increasing their involvement in narcotics as of late but their influence and staying power has always come more from their diverse economic base than how much drugs they move.

I think he's somehow related to Carlo Gambino.

Spatola associated with notorious 'ndranghetista Vincenzo Roccisano.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/officials-ex-con-ran-from-drug-associates-1.3026672

A question about the case involving lupoi. Why would the head of the ursino clan sell the undercover 1 kilogram of heroin? Seems like something that should be beneath him and also they were doing other low level drug deals and even a gun sale leading up to this drug deal.

It seems small time, but the agent "Jimmy" also attended a meeting in Brooklyn with representatives of the Ursinos and the Gambinos to set up a legitimate fish-trade business between New York and the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro as a means of delivering more heroin. Jimmy even went to Italy.

The ties between the 'ndrangheta and the NY mob go way back, in 1970 Rocco Zito ( killed this year ) had a meeting at a Holiday Inn with Sergio Gambino about heroin trafficking between the US and Canada.
At the same time Zito also had contacts with the Bonannos.

The Holiday Inn was on Highway 27 in Toronto (or just outside of Toronto). Rocco Zito and Giuseppe Indelicato (born in Siculiana; often had dealings with Siderno Group figures) met with Paolo Gambino (Carlo's brother) and Gambino's driver at the time, Emanuele Adamita (who, along with his brothers, became a big heroin dealer in his own right). After law enforcement's surveillance of Gambino and Adamita in Toronto on May 4 and 5, 1970, police learned that the two had also been in Toronto earlier in 1970.

Before arriving in Toronto on May 4 by car, Gambino and Adamita had been in Montreal, where they met with important people in the Montreal Mafia. I have seen a number of articles in which Zito is mentioned as having contact with Bonanno Family members, but these members could have been just Montrealers in the Bonanno decina--over the years Zito was known to have associated with Vic Cotroni, Paolo Violi, and especially Nick Rizzuto Sr. (Before Rizzuto was killed, he and Zito had known each other for approximately 40 years, perhaps longer.)

Thanks anti! I have a question for you did you hear any news about the case against Diego Serrano, Pino Ursino and the others?

I got a question also anti mafia,


Have you ever heard about Paolo Gambino meeting with Luciano in Italy in 1948? I have had a theory for a long time that the Gambinos were Luciano's men in the states, as far as narcotics distribution in NY. I think Carlos brother is a interesting figure in his own right.

It always seemed like Lucky picked the Gambinos over Genoveses or Adonis's people. Around 50 -51 Gambino makes a secret alliance with Genovese. I always assumed Lucky got wind of this and that's why he goes and makes the deal with the Bonnano family, to be his New NY distributors. And this is when Carlo really starts to dismantle the existing power structure.

Not only did he get rid of Genovese, and Bonnano, he even sacrificed guys like Ormento, from his allies,the Luchesses. It tells me guys were more loyal to the drug trade then their actual family.

Any thoughts on this, I'm intrigued, lol

According to the book Mob Rule, by James Dubro, the Canadian clans have had a presence in NY since like the early 70's.

Great lecture by John Dickie about the origins of the 'Ndrangheta:

I respect Dickie a lot, his book on Cosa Nostra is top notch...

I like John Dickie's book on the Cosa Nostra too, it is well researched.

I don't know any more than you do.

You will recall that many people were arrested and charged in various cities and towns in Ontario (almost all in the Greater Toronto Area). A number of the arrests were of people who were based in York Region (immediately north of Toronto)--five of six such people were granted bail. Significantly, Serrano was the one who was denied bail. Ursino, residing in Bradford (more than 40 miles away from Toronto), was also denied bail.

For me, the most interesting part of Jeremy Grimaldi's June 6, 2015 article in the Vaughan Citizen consisted of the last two paragraphs:

Police said the two families, one allegedly run by Verduci, who has since been replaced, and the other run by Ursino, worked together with the Serrano group to commit crimes.

However investigators added that when the groups disagreed, it could end up in violence among the parties.

CG, this actual or possible interaction is a subject with which I have no familiarity.

OK, I read that Giuseppe Ursino took over after the murder of Verduci. If he's from Gioiosa Jonica he's probably related to capobastone Antonio Ursino.