Drug trafficker, fugitive Luciano Camporesi captured in Turkey

REGGIO CALABRIA – On November 11, in Turkey, in the province of Antalya, the fugitive Luciano Camporesi, 47, was located and captured, sentenced in the first instance by the Court of Locri to 22 years and 8 months in prison for the crime of international drug trafficking.

Camporesi had been untraceable since 5 December 2018, when he had escaped the execution of the precautionary custody order in prison issued by the GIP of the Court of Reggio Calabria as part of the Pollino – European ‘Ndrangheta Connection operation, coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Reggio Calabria, directed by the Prosecutor Giovanni Bombardieri.

In recent weeks, the investigative activity has been directed towards Turkey thanks to the information provided by the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate which, as part of the activities conducted by the Palermo Operations Center, has acquired concrete elements, shared with the Central Operations Service and the Flying Squad of Reggio Calabria, such as to locate the fugitive, at least until 2021, in Turkish territory.

The Turkish authorities were therefore activated through the I-CAN (Interpol Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta) Unit of the International Police Cooperation Service of the Central Police Directorate.

On the basis of the information provided, in the night between 11 and 12 November last, personnel of the Intelligence and Organized Crime and Anti-Smuggling Department of the Turkish Police tracked down and arrested the fugitive Luciano Camporesi who was in an apartment in the city of Antalya, in possession of false documents.

Camporesi’s central role had been reconstructed in the Pollino – European ‘Ndrangheta Connection investigation which revealed the operation of an association active in international drug trafficking between South America, Italy and north-western Europe.

The investigation ended, in the preliminary investigation phase, with the arrest of 70 suspects, for various reasons, for mafia association, criminal association aimed at drug trafficking, extortion, violations of the legislation on weapons, fraudulent transfer of assets , simulation of crime, fraudulent damage to insured goods, money laundering, self-laundering and personal aiding and abetting.

In particular Luciano Camporesi Luciano is considered, and was convicted in the first instance for this, a participant in the association aimed at drug trafficking and precisely in this context he had established close relationships of criminal collaboration with the Calabrian co-suspects Domenico Pelle (of the homonymous gang of San Luca) and Giovanni Gentile, with whom he had met in April 2017 to plan the arrival in Italy of huge loads of narcotic substances (cocaine and hashish), using both commercial ships and one of his boats as carriers which sailed for to search for oil at sea, authorized to freely travel multiple routes without arousing suspicion.

In the continuation of the investigations, thanks to the international cooperation between the American DEA and the Central Directorate of Anti-Drug Services, the traceability to Camporesi of the “Remus” boat, flying the Panamanian flag and equipped with personnel of “Montenegrin” origin, on board of which, on 13 August 2018, the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza – GICO of Palermo, seized 20,140 kg of hashish, arresting, in the act of committing a crime, the entire crew of the ship made up of 11 subjects, all nationals Montenegrin.

His searches, delegated by the Reggio Calabria District Anti-Mafia Directorate to the Reggio Calabria Flying Squad, had been intensified after the conviction in the first instance and extended to various foreign countries in which the fugitive certainly appeared to have connections.