Calabria The Bulgarian boss' king of cocaine 'in business with the' ndrangheta has been arrested
Evelin Banev brought into Italy from South America, mainly by sea, an average of 40 tons of drugs per year

Published 5 hours ago the 11 September 2021Written by SM

The cocaine boss, the Bulgarian Evelin Banev known as 'Brendo ', former head of a Bulgarian-Italian criminal gang active in international drug trafficking, was arrested in Ukraine . The man, 56, was arrested in Kiev. His gang had been vanquished in late May 2012 in Bulgaria, as part of an operation called 'The kings of cocaine', carried out by the Bulgarian and Italian special services with the assistance of Interpol

Mario Scarriglia, 45, owner of a funeral home, was shot dead in an ambush in the center of Crotone

Innocent victim or affiliate?

From Calabria to Lausanne, how the 'ndrangheta deploys its tentacles



The property of Mafia boss Rocco Santo Filippone in Calabria. tvsvizzera

No Swiss canton is spared by the Italian mafias. This is the case for Vaud and its capital, Lausanne, where close relatives of a boss of the 'ndrangheta live. Report in Calabria, on the land of the most powerful mafia in Italy and Europe.

This content was published on September 13, 2021 - 11:10September 13, 2021 - 11:10 AM
Madeleine Rossi

We are in a village of barely 5,000 inhabitants, somewhere in the province of Reggio Calabria. It is there that take us, from Catanzaro, an investigator and a rifle officer who knows this micro-region perfectly. The officer, who prefers to remain anonymous, immediately announces the color: “Ah, you are Swiss? from Lausanne? There are beautiful people in your home… and they come from here ”.

Because this village and the two neighboring localities are the domain of an important boss of the 'ndrangheta, Rocco Santo Filippone. The man was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2020 by the Assize Court of Reggio Calabria for his participation in numerous attacks committed in the mid-1990s by Cosa Nostra and the so-called "stragista" 'ndrangheta (terrorist ), which caused many victims throughout Italy, including several riflemen.

In Switzerland, there are too few specialists able to understand and fight against Italian organized crime and the federalist system can complicate the completion of certain investigations. But the basic problem is the almost zero perception of the phenomenon, the result of a vicious circle: political disinterest, hence media disinterest, in favor of more visible and more promising forms of crime, and public ignorance.

Fine knowledge of the territory
However, if we want to fight the mafia, or at least hinder it, observation and knowledge of the territory, without forgetting intelligence at the local level, remain basic tools. Italy can, for example, count on a network of rifle posts even in the smallest villages, and thus ensures the presence of a local police force in contact with the inhabitants. Their mission consists essentially of traveling the territory, seeing and knowing, like the country priests who know nothing about the life and customs of their flock.

monumento a rifle
Monument in honor of Carmine Tripodi, rifleman killed in 1985 in San Luca by the 'ndrangheta. tvsvizzera
These "field" riflemen are the eyes and ears of their fellow investigators, sometimes based at the other end of the Peninsula, to whom it is enough to make a phone call to obtain information on a suspected individual, at random, of 'be linked to the Mafia.

Our discreet field investigation continues through discussions, always quiet, with the many retirees returning to the country after years spent in Switzerland, some in Lausanne and in the canton of Vaud, others in Basel, and who know how to pretty much everything. These meetings at the corner of a street or in front of a cafe come to shatter the myth of the so-called omertà: in Calabria, if we know how to do it, people talk. Sometimes between the lines, but most often "in the clear", even if it means doing it in a low voice and with a detached air.

Lausanne, the Mecca of the Calabrian mafia?
In all, it is about fifty names which come out, those of presumed mafia installed in the region of Basel or Davos, and up to a restaurant at the gates of Geneva. But the most interesting are those of two very close relatives of the boss Rocco Santo Filippone, settled for a long time in Lausanne. And that of another man, FM, suspected by the Italian authorities of being the head of the "locale" (the base cell of the 'ndrangheta) in Basel, linked to the "locale" in Singen, Germany. However, FM was seen in Calabria in June of this year, at one of Filippone's sons, and another Calabrian judicial source tells us that this same FM organized a "mangiata" in Basel, "the fall or l 'last winter'. A "mangiata", in other words a hangout?

More than a convivial moment around a table, it is a gathering of mafia, a rite that is part of the life of the honorable society, serves to define the relations between each other, to integrate the new , and above all makes it possible to show who is in charge and to ensure the loyalty of affiliates.

As for Lausanne, it was discussed spontaneously, and on many occasions during this morning in the Calabrian countryside, with a recurring sentence: "Everyone is trafficking between Basel and Lausanne". Without further details, which obviously remain difficult to obtain. In any case, without being a real bastion of the 'ndrangheta in Switzerland as Frauenfeld was and as Ticino still is, Lausanne seems to be an important junction point between the "locale" of Basel and Davos, this municipality. being considered in Italy as a hotbed of money laundering and drug trafficking.

An (almost) always discreet presence
Family is the essence of 'ndrangheta, and blood ties not only condition membership in this mafia, but also clan relationships, actions and obligations on both sides of the border. Kinship is therefore one of those "weak signals" that must be detected and which must be taken into account, because it involves various possible forms of complicity: from money laundering to arms and narcotics trafficking. through logistical support to the "latitanti", these mafia convicted in Italy and refugees in Switzerland.

Several of these fugitives have also been caught in the cantons of Valais and Bern over the past five years, curiously all beneficiaries of a B permit that they should never have obtained. Another recent example, that of the sister of Rocco Anello, the boss targeted by the Italian-Swiss operation “Imponimento” of July 2020, which led to several arrests and criminal proceedings in Switzerland. Devoted to her family, the lady was responsible for laundering a good part of the clan's money in Switzerland.

To end this tour of the territory, the rifleman officer offers us a detour in the open countryside to show us "one last thing": the property of Rocco Filippone, pretentious residence as befits any mafia leader, surrounded by a high barrier wrought iron. When we say goodbye, a long handshake, thanks and these words from our two guides: “What you do is important, you have to talk about the 'ndrangheta at home, you have to talk about it in books, in the media, so keep writing… ”.

Discreet allusion to the fact that contrary to the popular belief that the presence of the Mafia is accompanied by violent acts, the fact is that outside Calabria the 'ndrangheta has every interest in not attracting attention if it wants to feel safe and infiltrate the social and economic fabric. This does not exclude bloody events such as the Duisburg massacre (Germany) in 2007, and its six deaths.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/de-la-calabre-%C3%A0-lausanne--comment-la--ndrangheta-d%C3%A9ploie-ses-tentacules-/46937762

'Ndrangheta: international cocaine trafficking, 57 arrests
Seizure of assets for 3.7 million euros, gang members involved

From the first light of dawn, an operation conducted by the military of the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Catanzaro and of the central organized crime investigation service of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome is underway, coordinated and directed by the Dda of Reggio Calabria for the execution , in various regions of Italy, of 57 precautionary measures against members of a criminal organization dedicated to the importation of cocaine from Northern Europe and Spain. Seizures of assets for over € 3.7 million are underway.

Among those arrested are members of clans of the 'Ndrangheta of Reggino.

Ecco, infine, i nomi dei 57 arrestati all'alba di oggi
In carcere

Humberto Alexander Alcantara (1976);

Giuseppe Battaglia (1972);

Gianfranco Benzi (1945);

Giuseppe Cacciola (1989);

Francesco Cambria (1984);

Francesco Cavarra (1960);

Domenico Certo (1987);

Nicola Certo (1987);

Orazio Coco (1978);

Rocco Antonio Fedele (1972);

Salvatore Fedele (1974);

Antonio Gullace (1981);

Carmelo Liistro (1980);

Alessandro Marigliano (1981);

Alessio Martello (1990);

Andrea Mazzei (1984);

Matteo Mero (1984);

Walter Modeo (1975);

Marco Paladino (1985);

Antonio Paletta (1984);

Gennaro Paletta (1990);

Giampiero Pati (1980);

William Pati (1980);

Antonio Marco Penza (1983);

Santo Pitarà (1971);

Giulio Pizzo (1990);

Maurizio Pizzo (1964);

Roberto Porcaro (1984);

Bruno Pronestì (1979);

Alessandro Raso (1972);

Vincenzo Raso (1981);

Alessandro Scalise (1992);

Antonio Stelitano (1982);

Lorenzo Stelitano (1986);

Francesco Suriano (1979);

Domenico Tedesco (1959);

Giuseppe Trombetta (1993);

Francesco Varone (1987);

Gianfranco Viola (1971);

Fabio Vitale (1974);

Franco Vitale (1977);

Giuseppe Vitale (1969);

Rosario Zagame (1972).

Ai domiciliari:

Rocco Cacciola (1995);

Michele Chindamo (1991);

Paolo Cirelli (1946);

Pasquale Giovinazzo (1964);

Massimiliano Guerra (1969);

Giorgio La Pietra (1978);

Massimiliano Mazzanti (1972);

Ivan Meo (1988);

Stefano Montagono (1988);

Marialuisa Nasso (1985);

Giuseppe Pescetto (1973);

Simone Pronestì (1992);

Alessandro Talarico (1965);

Alessandro Villani (1978).

Scarriglia is a surname known in Fondo Gesù, a Crotone district often at the center of criminal plots. But the victim, unlike some of his relatives, was always far from certain collateral environments to the local clans. The 45-year-old, with the exception of a previous gambling conviction, had never had problems with justice.

He had been a fugitive for 3 years, Giuseppe Nacci was arrested linked to the 'Ndrangheta of the North
September 15, 2021
A lover of the good life, of flashy companies and luxury cars, Nacci, despite not having social media, left behind a trail of worldliness that in the end betrayed him

Giuseppe Nacci , 39 years old internationally wanted for a 11-year sentence for fraudulent bankruptcy, attempted extortion and criminal association, was arrested in Milan after 3 years of inaction . According to what was communicated by the carabinieri, the man was in business with the Flachi family, leading exponents of the 'Ndrangheta in the North.

Nacci was taken by the capturing team of the carabinieri of the provincial command of Milan, who have followed his traces left around the world in recent years. A lover of the good life, of flashy companies and luxury cars, Nacci, despite not having social media, left behind a trail of worldliness that in the end betrayed him. He is accused of having devised a refined system to cause the bankruptcy of his companies active in the disposal of ferrous waste, a field that put him in contact with the Flachi.

In 2018 he was stopped by the authorities in Monte Carlo, where he was riding in his own Lamborghini. Despite the heavy accusations he was released for a technical quibble linked to extradition and once outside the police offices he had lost track again. Until last Monday, when the military arrested him in Corso Sempione, where his company is based.

Alcantara is a dominican middleman between ndrangheta and colombian cartels

The Dominican Republic is a big hub for cocaine trafficking.

Milan, boss of the 'Ndrangheta at gay marriage: "I'm curious to see what they do"

September 17, 2021
He participated in a gay wedding in Milan in 2018, violating the rules of the special surveillance he was subjected to. The protagonist of the curious story is Filippo Barreca , one of the most important and dangerous bosses of the 'Ndrangheta. Invited by a professor at Bocconi University, this engineer Gianni, as Reggino reports , the boss was so intrigued that in the end he decided to participate in the event.

The news was revealed by Klaus Davi , who is preparing - for the Fatti e Misfatti programby Mediaset - an investigation into organized crime and, in particular, the presence of the Barreca clans in Milan. The journalist also published Barreca's own statements. In 2018 the boss, called "Peppi", subsequently arrested for extortion and mafia association crimes, was in Milan for some medical treatment and was invited to a homosexual wedding, as he himself revealed on February 3 to his daughter Luana, in a phone call intercepted and put on record by the investigators: "What are you doing, are you giving yourself mad joy?" asks the daughter. To which he replies: "Listen, then, in the afternoon I'm invited to a gay wedding (laughing, ed)". "But ... What are you saying?", Luana replies. “ I'm curious to see what they do, ” Barreca comments.

After attending the wedding, in a phone call on February 4, 2018 with his brother Santo, intercepted by investigators, he says: "Listen, Santo! Yesterday they didn't let us take pictures, otherwise I would have sent you those homosexuals" . And then: "We ate the cake, champagne, things ... We also gave him our best wishes to the newlyweds! ". Barreca then also told about many homosexuals "dressed as women" and described in great detail a guest who had him " impressed ".

The 'Ndrangheta wanted to kill Gratteri's son: "The clans feared he would become Minister of Justice"
SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 - 08:52
by Editorial staff

The facts date back to 2013: then the appointment of Gratteri as Minister of Justice vanished. But in 2016 there was a second attempt: some individuals sneaked into the building where the prosecutor's son lived in Messina

The 'Ndrangheta della Locride wanted to kill one of the sons of the procurator of Catanzaro Nicola Gratteri . They had decided that in prison. They had to make it look like a car accident. It was 2013. This is now reported by a new justice collaborator, Antonio Cataldo, 57, a member of the homonymous clan from Locri, as reported by Corriere della Sera . Cataldo is giving interesting details to the prosecutors, filling pages with minutes. On Wednesday, among other things, he could be heard by the magistrates in the hearing of the maxi-trial "Ransom - One Thousand and One Nights". In January 2016, another repentant, Maurizio Maviglia, had also spoken of an attempt to kill one of Gratteri's sons or to kidnap him.

'Ndrangheta, more than 20 cells in Switzerland
This is confirmed by Nicola Gratteri, according to the magistrate, Switzerland would also need more means to carry out investigations against the mafia
Last modified: September 19, 2021 9:05 pm

“Switzerland needs a more penetrating system to fight the mafia. It must equip itself with more effective means to conduct investigations ”. Thus the Italian anti-mafia magistrate Nicola Gratteri - guest of the Endorfine Festival in Lugano - spoke to our microphones.

The fight against the 'Ndrangheta is increasingly difficult, as it is no longer alone in the private sector. The alarm was raised by Nicoletta della Valle, director of the federal police, according to which the 'Ndrangheta has infiltrated the Swiss public administration, as confirmed by Gratteri himself: "Yes, and more generally it must be said that the mafias vote and do vote. They are never in opposition and always try to position themselves anywhere with the winning horse; also in the administration, as happens in other states, for example in Germany, or in Canada. "

"More than 20 clubs in Switzerland"

The federal police had also stated that in our country there are twenty local 'Ndrangheta (ie an organized structure of gangs, which has at least 49 affiliates). However, Gratteri goes beyond this figure: "Twenty is said because we are talking about those already ascertained on the judicial level, but if twenty locales are ascertained on the judicial level, one can easily multiply the number of substantive, factual and historical points of view".

An upward figure, therefore, according to Gratteri. And even if the collaboration with Switzerland, according to the magistrate, has improved compared to the past, something more can be done: “We should have the courage to create a more meaningful system corresponding to reality. Above all, we must stop reciting the story that here the mafia does not kill people, does not burn shutters and cars. These are speeches from 30 years ago ”. Finally, on new possible inquiries concerning Switzerland, he does not say too much: "I am not talking about the future, it would be a crime".

Mattia Pacella
Published on: September 19, 2021, 8:54 pm Last modified on: September 19, 2021, 9:05 pm

https://www.rsi.ch/news/ticino-e-grigioni-e-insubria/%E2%80%98Ndrangheta-pi%C3%B9-di-20-cellule-in-Svizzera-14732277.html

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/v...-court-documents-drugs-ndrangheta.901631
Cocaine hidden in cars: Italian court papers expose Italy-Malta drug ring
Drug runners linked to ’Ndrangheta allegedly used Sicily ferry to bring drugs in

Still from Operation Crypto

Francesco Pelle returned to Italy and ordered the Christmas massacre
BREAKING NEWS Deborah World about 3 hours ago REPORT
Francesco Pelle returned to Italy and ordered the Christmas massacreFrancesco Pelle returned to Italy and ordered the Christmas massacre
AGI – Francesco Pelle, 44, returned from Portugal with a plane that took him to the Rome airport of Ciampino until a few months ago. fugitive from the ‘Ndranghetto. According to Italian justice, he is the instigator of the Christmas massacre in which Maria Strangio, wife of the boss Giovanni Luca Nirta, the real target of the homicidal commando, died. The attack, 8 months later, had an even more tragic sequel with the massacre of Duisburg, Germany, in which 6 people believed to be close to the Pelle-Vottari clan died. It was the response of the enemy clan to the ambush of December 25, 2006, one of the bloody chapters of the feud in San Luca (Reggio Calabria) between the Vottari-Pelle-Romeo and Strangio-Nirta clans. A war that began on 10 February 1991 following a Carnival joke, when a group of young people linked to the Strangio-Nirta clan threw eggs towards a recreational club run by one of the Pelle, called “Gambazza”, also dirtying the car. of a Vottari. A disgrace, according to the rules of the ‘ndrine, to be washed with blood. And blood has been shed since that day. Leather was brought back to Italy by the men of the International Police Cooperation Service (SCIP) of the central direction of the Criminal Police, led by the Prefect Vittorio Rizzi

The arrest in Lisbon
The boss of San Luca (RC) was arrested in Lisbon on March 29 last, on the basis of a European arrest warrant, executed by the National Antiterrorism Unit of the Portuguese Judiciary Police, as part of an operation made possible by the cooperation provided by the Operational Department of the provincial command of Reggio Calabria and by the Carabinieri Group of Locri, under the aegis of the Dda of Reggio Calabria. The arrest and return to Italy of the fugitive, the investigators commented, represents an important result of the I-Can (Interpol Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta) project against the’ Ndrangheta, promoted by Italy together with Interpol, which involves State Police, Arma of the Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza and the police forces of 11 other countries in the world: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, USA.

Pelle, known as “Ciccio Pakistan”, was included in the list of the 30 most dangerous wanted men in Italy. Traces of him had been lost on July 19, 2019, shortly before the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, definitively condemning him to life imprisonment as the instigator of the “Christmas massacre”. The Carabinieri found him in a Lisbon clinic where he was hospitalized because he was positive for Covid.

The Christmas massacre was the response to the attempted murder of Francesco Pelle, which took place on 31 July 2006 when Ciccio Pakistan was wounded in the back and definitively lost the use of his legs. The wheelchair in which he is forced to live has not prevented him from becoming a boss, organizing the retaliation against the Nirta-Strangio clan and, above all, from running away twice.

The first was interrupted in 2008 by a blitz of the Ros of Reggio Calabria. While everyone was chasing him, “Ciccio Pakistan” was hospitalized under a false name in Pavia, in the neuro-rehabilitation department of the Maugeri Foundation Clinic. Pelle was treated at the expense of the NHS and from his room in the hospital he communicated via Skype with the men of the clan left free after the Fehida operation, coordinated by Nicola Gratteri, now chief prosecutor of Catanzaro, then serving in Reggio Calabria.

Escape ended in Portugal
In September 2017 Pelle had returned free due to the expiry of the terms of the trial phase of the gangs of San Luca. His conviction had been canceled and postponed by the Supreme Court. For two years he had been subjected to the obligation of residence in Milan pending the final sentence, but when the Supreme Court confirmed the life imprisonment, Ciccio Pakistan, he was no longer there. Again fugitive despite the serious handicap. This time the escape lasted less than two years and ended abroad, in Portugal, where, according to the Carabinieri, Pelle would have enjoyed a safety net that allowed him not only to leave the country undisturbed, but also to seek treatment in a clinic after discovering that you are positive for coronavirus.

The I-Can project, under the aegis of Interpol, has facilitated international cooperation between the police forces of different states, allowing today the capture abroad of 20 fugitives of ‘Ndrangheta, among which, in addition to that of Pelle, the arrests of Giuseppe Romeo, Vincenzo Pasquino, Rocco Morabito, quest last second only to Matteo Messina Denaro, one of the most dangerous fugitives included in the wanted list. Arrests which, according to investigators, confirm the ramification of Italian crime and its capacity for pervasion and international diffusion.

The Duisburg massacre was the spy of the expansion of the Calabrian mafia abroad, making known to the world the terrifying power of the ‘ndrine. In the night between 14 and 15 August 2007, in the small town of western Germany, Tommaso Venturi, 18 years old, died; Francesco and Marco Pergola 22 and 20 years old; Francesco Giorgi, 17 years old; Marco Marmo, 25, and Sebastiano Strangio, 39. They were killed with machine gun shots in front of the restaurant-pizzeria ‘Da Bruno’ owned by the Strangio family, originally from San Luca. And the German giant also trembled.

Disney + announces the original Italian four-part docuseries 'Ndrangheta, World Wide Mafia. Produced by Disney, IBC Movie and Sunset Press and based on real events, written and directed by Jacques Charmelot and François Chayé, it tells the story of the criminal organization in the form of docuseries for the first time.

Four episodes that reconstruct the stages of the war carried out by the public prosecutor of Catanzaro Nicola Gratteri against one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world. The docuseries will also tell the historical maxi-trial opened in January 2021 in Lamezia Terme, Calabria, led by Gratteri against more than 350 defendants: a trial whose fate will also have consequences on the international drug trafficking.

In recent years, Gratteri has received multiple death threats and has been living under guard for more than thirty years. Viewers will discover his personal history and the daily reality of his struggle, will follow his work as the "commander in chief" of an investigation involving secret services, police, military units and special forces.

FIGHT AGAINST THE MAFIA
'Ndrangheta, the boss Domenico Paviglianiti has returned to Italy: he was arrested in Spain in August

Considered a leading exponent of organized crime in Reggio, he landed today in Fiumicino. He was caught last summer after a fugitive that had been going on since 2019

by Editorial staff 1 October 2021 17:15

Domenico Paviglianiti , 60, considered a leading exponent of the Reggio 'Ndrangheta, returned to Italy today from Spain, where he was arrested in August . He was known as the "boss of bosses" and had been a fugitive since 2019. Paviglianiti has yet to serve 11 years, 18 months and 15 days , for crimes of mafia-type association, murder and association aimed at drug trafficking.

Upon arrival at Rome Fiumicino airport, he was escorted by the staff of the International Police Cooperation Service (SCIP) of the Central Police Directorate. Paviglianiti was arrested in Madrid on 3 August by the Iberian police as part of an operation resulting from the cooperation between the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit of the Provincial Command of Bologna, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor of Bologna, Eurojust and the International Police Cooperation Service.

Brit gangs team up with Mafia and South American cartels to up UK cocaine supply
British gangsters have partnered with Italian mafia and South American cartels to help turn drug smuggling of Class A drugs into the UK into an entire industry

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/brit-gangs-team-up-mafia-25029200

4 'Ndrangheta men arrested in informant brother murder
Allegedly killed Marcello Bruzzese in Marche on Xmas Day 2018

(ANSA) - REGGIO CALABRIA, OCT 4 - Italian police on Monday arrested four suspected members of he Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia on suspicion of murdering the brother of a former mafioso turned informant on Christmas Day 2018, judicial sources said.
The alleged clan members waited for Marcello Bruzzese, brother of informant Girolamo, outside his police-protected home in the historic centre of Pesaro in Marche and unloaded a caliber-9 pistol into him, police said.
The vendetta killing was carried out for the Crea clan of Rizziconi in the Gioia Tauro plan in Calabria, police said.
As well as suspected homicide, the four have been charged with illegal weapons possession and mafia association, judicial sources said.
The arrest warrants were issued by anti-mafia prosecutors in Ancona and Reggio Calabria.
Police from Ancona, Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro, Brescia, Naples, Turin, Pesaro, and Vibo Valentia took part in the operation.
(ANSA).

Fugitive 'Ndrangheta boss caught in bunker
Damiano Gallace, 60, living in secret flat with partner, 34

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 7 - A fugitive Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia boss was caught in a secret bunker in a flat carved out of a cement factory near Catanzaro on Thursday.
The bunker was built behind a false bedroom wall, police said.
It could only be opened by turning a secret handle in a cupboard, they said.
Damiano Gallace, 60, has been on the run for a year after being sentenced to 14 years in jail for mafia association.
The boss, believed to be the acting head of his Gallace clan, was discovered by police at Isca sullo Ionio.
Police in helicopters helped Carabinieri GIS police from Catanzaro find the hideout.
Also in the lfat at the time of his arrest were his 34-year-old partner and their four-year-old daughter.
'Ndrangheta is Italy's richest and most powerful mafia thanks to its control of the European cocaine trade.
Many 'Ndrangheta bosses hide out for years in secret underground bunkers. (ANSA).

New arrest for ndrangheta in Reggio. In the investigation a weapon found in Parma

In handcuffs, the 47-year-old Salvatore Procopio is accused of criminal association of a mafia type and illegal possession of firearms
09 OCTOBER 2021
1 MINUTE READ

The Reggio Emilia State Police arrested the 47-year-old Salvatore Procopio, considered by the investigators to be a member of the Emilian 'Ndrangheta.

The man is accused of criminal association of a mafia type and illegal possession of firearms.

The precautionary custody measure in prison was carried out by the mobile team of the Reggio police headquarters, ordered by the investigating judge of the Bologna court, Alberto Ziroldi at the request of the chief prosecutor of the DDA, Giuseppe Amato and by the prosecutor Beatrice Ronchi as part of the Perseverance operation.

The investigation had already brought several leading exponents of the association in handcuffs including Giuseppe Sarcone Grande, Salvatore Muto (born in 1985, brother of Luigi and Antonio already sentenced on appeal even in the Aemilia maxi trial), Domenico Cordua, 44 years old, and Giuseppe Friyio, 43, cousin of Procopio, for mafia association and attempted extortion aggravated by the mafia method and facilitation.

On the occasion, an extortion activity for two million euros of illicit origin was documented and a weapon with abraded and illegally detained serial number was seized.

The weapon, a 7.35 caliber Beretta pistol, according to investigators sold to Cordua by Procopio, was found by the carabinieri in May 2020 during the search of the apartment that Cordua and Friyio shared in Parma.

Procopio is considered by the suspects, who in the course of the captures exalted his criminal status, and unanimously by the collaborators of justice, a "shareholder", that is a member of the 'Ndrangheta faction capable of carrying out criminal acts, even violent.

During the investigations, Procopio was found to intervene on multiple occasions, using his own authority as a 'Ndranghetista, to settle disputes between his associates or to resolve conflicts concerning his associates, as well as to favor the Muto family of Gualteri (already affected by the Aemilia operations and Grimilde)

Wow they killed the important drug broker Salvaggio !

photo
photo

A 60-year-old man was shot dead in Buccinasco, a town a few kilometers from Milan. The man was injured in the head, face and shoulder and was transported under cardio-circulatory arrest to the hospital in Rozzano. The shooting took place shortly after 10 in via della Costituzione, at the intersection with via Rodolfo Morandi.

This is Paolo Salvaggio, of Sicilian origin , considered a drug trafficking broker and involved in several anti-drug operations. The man, who died shortly after being transported to the Rozzano hospital, was under house arrest with an exit permit for two hours a day and was on his bike when he was hit by some bullets exploded by a scooter on which two people were traveling.

The Milan carabinieri investigate the matter and the Milan prosecutor on duty Carlo Scalas arrived in via della Costituzione in Buccinasco (Milan) for an inspection of the area

Salvaggio could go out for two hours a day and in those two hours, in the middle of the morning, he was killed not far from home, "I imagine as professionals - explains Mayor Rino Piuri - arrived by scooter, who shot him one last time when he was on the ground blow to the head ».

The mayor offered condolences to the ex-wife who was in tears and was talking to the carabinieri. Salvaggio had a history of drugs since 1992, and had relations with the 'Ndrangheta and apparently also with other Mafia families.

“Criminals and mafia families have been living here for decades. We have been saying this for decades. The proportion of premises seized from the mafias that we have here is higher than in Reggio Calabria, one for every thousand inhabitants, "he added. But until now the "business" of organized crime had remained under the radar: "The last person killed dates back to the end of the 1980s."

Salvaggio was, he explains, a sort of "bridge between the 'Ndrangheta and other mafia families" , hence the fear that, once the balance is blown, a sort of war for power will start

From the first investigations it would seem that Paolo Salvaggio was linked to the Papalia clan or a family of 'Ndrangheta which has long been present in the territory of Buccinasco and Corsico. But there is more: the victim, nicknamed "Dum Dum", was among the suspects of the 2013 South Park anti-mafia operation. The investigations then revealed that he was doing business with Colombian narcos to get drugs. Once in possession of drugs, his contacts were mainly with the bosses of the clan of 'Ndrangheta Barbaro-Papalia di Platì and with the members of the Magrini clan of the Sacra Corona Unita .

He was Sicilian, but he had no links to Cosa Nostra? I doubt it.

He was from Pietraperzia (Enna) , one of the most important and "reliable" drug traffickers in Milan. But he would have died anyway. Because he had a late stage lung cancer that had led him to house arrest.

'Ndrangheta: assets confiscated for 10 million euros
Between the province of Savona and Reggio Calabria


(ANSA) - GENOA, 14 OCT - The Anti-Mafia Investigation Department, at the disposal of the Court of Reggio Calabria, has carried out an order for the confiscation of assets against Carmelo Gullace, an entrepreneur originally from Cittanova (Reggio Calabria) and his spouse.
The confiscation affected the entire share capital and corporate assets of 4 companies, 14 buildings and 41 land located in the province of Savona and Reggio Calabria, current accounts, movable assets and financial positions for approximately 10 million euros.

Operation anti 'Ndrangheta, 28 affiliated to the gangs had citizenship income
The criminals had to declare the existence of impedimental convictions (also mafia-type association) or personal precautionary measures. 212 thousand euros seized

Reggio Calabria - They had requested and obtained citizenship income from the INPS , failing to declare the existence of impedimental convictions, even for mafia-type associations, or personal precautionary measures. For this reason, the Public Prosecutor of Vibo Valentia, Camillo Falvo , asked the GIP to issue a preventive seizure decree of sums for about 212,000 euros against 28 subjects, among which also prominent exponents and affiliates of the clans of 'Ndrangheta Vibonesi, already involved in the operations "Costa Pulita", "Ossessione", "Cerbero" and "Rebirth Scott".

The soldiers of the provincial command of the Guardia di Finanza of Vibo Valentia, in collaboration with the INPS, have launched checks aimed at countering the conduct of undue request , receipt or use of subsidized social benefits, with specific reference to citizenship income. Citizenship income cannot be paid to families whose members are subjected to precautionary measures or convicted of serious crimes . The investigations by the judicial police, carried out in the last period by the Fiamme Gialle of the Tenenza di Tropea, had allowed several people to be reported to the prosecutor. Following the issuance of the provision, the soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza, in these days, have implemented the decree safeguarding the money deposited in current accounts

Bazooka and explosives to avenge the bosses: "The gang wanted attacks on targets under guard." Possible victims and budget: "150 thousand euros"
'Ndrangheta - The investigation by the Ancona and Reggio Calabria prosecutors on the ambush projects of the Crea clan has reconstructed stalking and inspections of two hit men, with cloned plates and false documents. The investigation started with the murder of a collaborator of justice in Pesaro which took place on Christmas day 2018. On the phone there were those who said: "I have to give my brother a gift for Christmas if I can"

"We find a solution for this job that gives us 150 thousand euros ". The amount would have been paid by the Crea clan . The work, on the other hand, would have consisted in an attack that the men of the Rizziconi boss were ready to carry out with weapons of war and explosives to blow up targets under guard . This is what emerges from the investigations by the Ancona and Reggio Calabria prosecutors who on 4 October carried out some arrests for mafia association and for the murder of Marcello Bruzzese , the brother of the collaborator of justice Girolamo Bruzzesekilled in Pesaro on Christmas day 2018 . One of the two killers, according to the investigators, was Michelangelo Tripodi who together with Francesco Candiloro exploded 20 gunshots against the victim while the latter parked his car outside the house in the center of the Marche city.

THE COMMEMORATION
Locri remembers Francesco Fortugno killed by the 'Ndrangheta sixteen years ago
For the National Anti-Mafia Directorate it was "one of the most serious political-mafia crimes in the history of Italy". His wife Maria Grazia Laganà: "October 16 is a symbolic and extremely significant date for this territory and for the whole of Calabria"

by Ilario Balì October 16, 2021 10:50

It was October 16, 2005 when the vice president of the Regional Council of Calabria Francesco Fortugno was assassinated by the 'Ndrangheta in the entrance hall of Palazzo Nieddu in Locri , seat of the Union primaries . 16 years after that excellent crime that stirred the conscience of everyone, the family and institutions wanted to remember the figure of the Locrese doctor and politician with a sober and restricted ceremony but with a high symbolic value . First the laying of a wreath at the murder site. Then a mass of suffrage officiated by Bishop Francesco Olivain the chapel of the episcopal seminary. Then the usual moment of meditation in the chapel of the cemetery of Locri, where the remains of Franco Fortugno rest.

Furthermore, the first real mass mobilization in Calabria against the 'Ndrangheta is linked to his story by the young people of Locride who in thousands made their voices heard throughout the country, taking to the streets in the aftermath of a definite murder by the National Anti-Mafia Directorate " one of the most serious political-mafia crimes in the history of Italy ".


"For the second consecutive year - said Maria Grazia Laganà , widow of Francesco Fortugno - due to the health emergency that the country is facing, together with my children, I intended to organize this moment with sobriety and without gathering opportunities for young people which have always represented the soul and vital energy of this anniversary. In any case, October 16 remains a symbolic and extremely significant date for this territory and for the whole of Calabria , as an opportunity to relaunch and promote with renewed commitment those ideals of democracy, legality and civil coexistence that have permeated all of existence. of my husband. Feeding the flame of memory means honoring Franco's life and contribute to giving hope of change and redemption to the young people and all the children of this land who do not want to surrender to the suffocating presence of the 'Ndrangheta ».

Also present in Locri the prefect of Reggio Calabria Massimo Mariani : "Compared to those years, progress has been made in the fight against organized crime - he said -. Remembering Fortugno means remembering the main victim of that tragedy, which is this land of Calabria . The territory has paid a terrible price. The presence of the 'Ndrangheta hinders development and it is the task of each of us to ensure that in this land we can live and work well. It is a great challenge, we will always try to do our best ».