The Imperial narcos: "Even the 'Ndrangheta bought drugs from me"

The newly repentant Raffaele Imperiale talks about relations with the Calabrian gangs and "safe havens" such as Gioia Tauro where to get drugs from South America

The Calabrian gang of the Mammoliti bought hundreds and hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from the drug trafficker Raffaele Imperiale who has become a pentito for two months.

This was revealed by the Van Gogh boss himself (so nicknamed for having come into possession of two very precious canvases by the Flemish painter, kept for a long time and then found again) in one of the four reports filed in recent days by the Neapolitan investigating office to the judges of the Naples Review.

Business, Raffaele Imperiale says, accelerated in 2016, after the arrest of Rocco Mammoliti and the takeover of his brother Giuseppe . Relations between Imperiale and the clan worsened after the theft of an important quantity of drugs, 140 kilos.

The Calabrians stole 140 kilograms of cocaine from Imperiale and he severed relations.

Imperiale explains to the Neapolitan magistrates that some Calabrian affiliates had carried out the "coup". The cheat did not go unpunished and even a murder passed off as an account settlement for sentimental affairs escaped us. Imperiale and Giuseppe Mammoliti came to an agreement: they would share the losses.

But in any case, 500 thousand euros did not arrive from Calabria. From that moment on, the Mammoliti began to ask for smaller quantities of cocaine, but always received a refusal from Imperiale.
It was a perfect system, which for years had allowed him to become the point of reference for international drug trafficking in Europe. Logistic bases, or rather "unsuspected houses" located in several parts of Italy. Safe ports, "with large commercial ships that make intercontinental routes" and "changers" , trusted men who turned over money and cleaned it up.

It is Raffaele Imperiale, the boss who also owned two stolen Van Goghs, who told the DDA prosecutors about it. Last November 10, in a report recently filed by the prosecutors, the king of drug trafficking reconstructed in minute detail the modus operandi of the organization he created, which had powerful Neapolitan and Calabrian gangs as 'clients' and in excellent relations with the cartels South Americans.

"Mario Cerrone was initially in charge of logistics and relations with Italian criminal groups, who were then taken over by Daniele Ursini and Bruno Carbone", he explains, admitting that he arrived in Dubai in 2010 , with 100 million worth of cocaine hidden in Naples at the unbeknownst to the Amato-Pagano clan , fruit of his 'business' in Brazil , and from there to have used encrypted platforms to manage his interests in every corner of the world.

Initially, the Amato-Paganos of the Neapolitan neighborhood of Secondigliano "dealed with the distribution on the territory" of his drug. After the cocaine order, “everything fell under the responsibility of Ursini who managed the delivery. He contacted the customer directly and wrote down the quantity delivered and the customer's name. Then at least once a month, even more often, we compared it with the one kept by me, who kept the global accounts of all the operations”.

The work was always on credit “and the quicker the customers paid, the quicker we made further supplies. It was a swirling system in constant motion. The transport of money took place with 'system' machines, therefore with physical movement. The delivery took place in a place identified by the customer, where we usually took care of collecting it, then our money was moved to our house where the money was counted and divided and then kept in special shelves".

The villas available to the organization “were around ten, props for drugs and money, you certainly never managed to enter two of them. In one of those you went to, 250 kilos were not discovered and then sold by the Amato-Paganos” , he says.

The seaways of drug trafficking
Today in Europe, 2,500 euros are earned for every kilo of cocaine. The group transported the drugs through the ports of Gioia Tauro , obviously Naples, Algeciras in Spain , Belgium , Rotterdam , Germany and Latvia.

Imperiale's network managed contacts in the Ivory Coast and in two years it completed countless operations, for tons of cocaine sailing from Turbo, in Colombia and above all from Cristóbal , in Panama , also used as a hub by Brazil and Ecuador , with destination Gioia Tauro .

From Holland the drug traveled by road
“We had at least eight stationary trucks available for transport from the Netherlands, of which at least 3-4 were ready to load. All the carriers had a legitimate cover business, except for one Slovak who worked only for us.

We always worked on credit, the faster the customers paid, the faster we made further supplies. After the payment, the money was moved to one of our houses where it was counted, divided and then kept in special holders. The group had a dozen villas for "support" where up to 10 million in cash could be hidden".