Report of the Dia: 'Ndrangheta present in Latin America alongside the narcos
Luca Grossi 03 October 2022
Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Argentina: cocaine production and the Calabrian mafia

Several judicial investigations continue to "demonstrate the attitude of the 'Ndrangheta to interact easily with the bloody organizations of the South American drug trafficking."
One of these investigations culminated in the' Magma 'trial (November 2019) in an abbreviated rite: "the Gup of Reggio Calabria had issued the sentence of conviction against 29 accused members of the Bellocco clan for a total of about 370 years of imprisonment because they were held responsible for mafia-type associations and international drug trafficking with South America, in particular Argentina, Uruguay and Costa Rica " .
Other investigations, on the other hand, have revealed the relationships with exponents of other criminal factions, especially in Calabria and Sicily, such as the 'ndrina Gentile di Amantea (CS), the' ndrina Lanzino di Cosenza, the 'ndrina Gallace di Guardavalle (CZ) and the Cappello clan of Catania.
These are some of the details released by Dia in the six-monthly report regarding contacts with the 'Ndrangheta and South American narcos organizations.
According to analysts, moreover, “South American organized crime operates above all in various regions of northern Italy, in particular in Lombardy and Liguria and to a lesser extent in Lazio. These are associations which, in addition to being dedicated to the commission of crimes against property and the exploitation of prostitution, collaborate with other foreign or Italian factions in the management of drug trafficking from Latin America. "
The transport of cocaine is managed with different methods : "the import takes place through air and sea routes using intermediate stops in order to evade the controls of the Police Forces and customs".

Mexico
The country would be "heavily exposed to the phenomenon of laundering of illicit proceeds attributable to drug trafficking, human beings, arms, smuggling, fraud and extortion". Dia stressed that the "international drug trafficking" is managed by the "Mexican criminal associations and the Italian organized crime from Calabria, Campania and Sicily. For this purpose, in particular, the 'Ndrangheta would use the port of Gioia Tauro (RC), strategic hub for cocaine trafficking in Europe ".

Colombia
"Colombia - reads - would be one of the main cocaine producing countries. The substantial illicit trafficking would be carried out in parallel with a complex system of recycling the relative proceeds, through real estate transactions and operations carried out in casinos or through the use of cryptocurrencies. ".
The Italian criminal organizations - especially the 'Ndrangheta - would stock up on the cocaine loads transferred along the “Chile-Ecuador-Venezuela-Brazil-Dominican Republic” route, directly from the Colombian cartels, entering Europe from Spain and Holland.
Dia analysts highlighted that "the most important criminal organizations involved in the cultivation and trafficking of drugs, as well as chemical precursors, would be the dissident groups of the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) , the BA.CRIM. (Bandas Criminales) and the armed paramilitary associations that arose following the demobilization of the historic AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia). The most important criminal gang would be that of the Usuga Clan or Clan del Golfo made up of over 70% of the paramilitaries present in Colombia ".


Brazil
In the report it was indicated as a "transit territory for drugs to Africa and Europe".
The biggest criminal group would be "the Primeiro Comando da Capital", a criminal organization that "would have embarked on a path of evolution aimed at starting money laundering activities, perpetrating financial crimes and establishing contacts with the counterparts based in the countries of the western hemisphere. and Europe ".
With regard to the possible presence of Italian mafias in Brazil, it emerged "how in the past the strong Sicilian emigration to the countries of America would have led to the reconstitution, in those contexts, of criminal aggregates with characteristics similar to those of origin, making them useful points of reference for international drug trafficking.

Peru
A "considerable amount of cocaine" is produced here. The drug is passed "through the countries of Central and South America and into those of West Africa by foreign criminal gangs that would join the local gangsters".
"The main sources of illicit proceeds would be drug trafficking, counterfeiting of goods and illegal gold mining."
As for the links between the Italian mafias and Peru, "the interests of the Ndrangheta clans of the Ionian and Tyrrhenian bands have emerged - we read - in investigative activities in the recent past".

Argentina
The country "thanks to the widespread use of cash, would offer criminal organizations high opportunities for the reinvestment of illicit proceeds also through financial transactions carried out in other countries without anti-money laundering legislation".
In Argentina, as highlighted by Dia, "the legislation concerning the seizure, confiscation and management of assets resulting from crime, would still have limited effectiveness".
The criminal phenomena indicated in the report are many: search for fugitives, money laundering, terrorism, immigration, protection of the artistic heritage and, of course, drug trafficking.
In this regard, "clandestine flights for the transport of cocaine from Bolivia and Peru were detected, as well as illegal entry of boats from Brazil and Paraguay along the vast river network on the border with Argentina; - drug seizures in peripheral areas of large cities, where clandestine laboratories destined to complete the cocaine transformation cycle were identified. In this context, contacts were recorded to undertake drug trafficking between South American organizations and exponents of the 'Ndrangheta, facilitated by the presence on site of Calabrian associates still in close relations with Italy ".
Finally, consolidated relations emerged "between the Mexican cartel of Jalisco Nueva Generation (which would concentrate most of the drug trafficking activities in Asia, Africa and Europe) and the 'Ndrangheta, in relation to trafficking of cocaine shipped inside containers".