Big scoop from The Financial Times about the fact that from 2015 to 2019, Global investors, including one of the biggest Banks in Europe (Generali), bought about €1 billion bonds backed by front companies of the N'Drangheta.

Apparently, the N'dranghetta was able to issue these bonds through its activities in the Health sector in Italy.

While the involvement of the Mafia in the financial market is not news, this is clearly taking it to another level. This scheme enabled the N'Drangheta to get large quantity of funds from legitimate companies. Usually, it's the Mob who try to get into the capital of legitimate companies not the other way around.

Basically, a big European bank and many private financial actors unknowingly invested in the Calabrian Mafia.

This proves once again that the N'Drangheta is probably the most sophisticated criminal organization in the world.




Source :

International investors reportedly bought bonds backed by the Italian mafia

Published Tue, Jul 7 20203:13 PM EDT


The report said an estimated €1 billion in private bonds backed by front companies charged with working for the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta mafia group were bought by global investors between 2015 and 2019.

These bonds were bought by pension funds, hedge funds, family offices as well as Banca Generali — one of the biggest private banks in Europe — the FT reported.

Investors around the globe were buying bonds backed by a notorious mafia in Italy for four years, The Financial Times reported, citing financial and legal documents.

The report said an estimated €1 billion in private bonds backed by front companies charged with working for the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta mafia group were bought by global investors between 2015 and 2019.

These bonds were bought by pension funds, hedge funds, family offices as well as Banca Generali — one of the biggest private banks in Europe — the FT reported. The Italian bank purchased those bonds through an instrument constructed by Geneva-base investment bank CFE, the newspaper said.

These bonds, according to the FT, were created out of unpaid invoices to public health authorities in Italy from companies providing medical services. One debt deal, which was purchased by institutional investors, contained assets sold by a refugee camp in Italy’s Calabria region.

CFE said it did not knowingly buy assets linked to criminal activity. Banca Generali told the newspaper it was “getting to know right now of the mentioned bad news.”


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Here’s a quote about the people running the ’Ndrangheta now:

“A number of the younger generation, those who I grew up at the same time as, have degrees from the London School of Economics or even Harvard. Some have MBAs,” says Anna Sergi, a Calabrian-born criminologist at the University of Essex. “They live outside Calabria and appear like respectable businessmen, not directly involved in street-level illegality but there to offer technical expertise when it is needed.”

How does law enforcement deal with something like this?

This is a white-collar case, so it takes long and complex investigation. Not sure if they have the will or resources to investigate. Banca Generali is just one of the investors. The same group also pocketed tens of millions of euros of EU funds.