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