It's common Simon. The always inflate the numbers, and often the scope of any group be it small time local hood gangs or the biggest, Mafia included. Tony Salerno and the Genovese Family were once place on a list of the richest business in the world.
The cartels were big, no doubt, and they had more power in their countries than anyone, Mafia included, did. Look at the time El Chapo, who though in another nation than Escobar, had the power to get tunneled out of prison, with the guards looking the other way.
That is by the way a great piece you put up, very informative, and rare in a media that loves sensationalization over the truth. Thanks.
That`s true, an Italian think tank claimed Ndrangheta was making 55 billion euro annually a few years ago, numbers like that is just straight bullshit. However the Escobar myth is just so prevalent that most people do still believe it, and the revenue of the mafia in both the US and Italy has been much better researched than cartels in general. I mean sure cartels are surely making a lot more money than traditional mafias but the drug mafias like Ndrangheta? not necessarily. Ndrangheta itself is a big drug cartel they buy cocaine from farmers in Colombia and ship them to Europe, they are making so much more than Colombian cartels now and perhaps on a similar level with Sinaloa. Also the power of cartels come from the corruption of the Mexican government once they step outside the country they lose that superiority.
