The statements of the arrested Mafia boss Imperiale will reach far beyond Italy
The arrested mafia boss Raffaele Imperiale played a key role in an alternative banking system for criminals. That is why his statements are of great concern to criminals at home and abroad.

Jan Meeus
January 28, 2023
Reading time 3 minutes
In August 2021, the Italian Raffaele Imperiale was arrested in Dubai on suspicion of drug trafficking. After his arrest, he made a deal with the Italian judiciary: he will cooperate in the investigation into drug trafficking in exchange for a reduced sentence.
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It is the question that currently concerns criminals in the Netherlands and far beyond: is my name mentioned in the statements of the Italian mafia boss Raffaele Imperiale? At the end of last year it was announced that mafia boss Imperiale had signed a crown witness deal with the Italian government after his arrest in Dubai.

A joint publication this weekend by Follow the Money and RTL Nieuws makes it clear why. Italian files show that Imperiale was much more than an international drug trafficker. He has also played a crucial role in channeling and investing many tens of millions of euros made from drug smuggling.

That is why more and more criminals from home and abroad are calling their lawyer these days about Imperiale's statement, which is said to be at least six hundred pages: do you know who all are mentioned?

Son of Taghi
According to Follow the Money and RTL News , the Italian files mention financial transactions between Imperiale, Ridouan Taghi and one of his sons. According to those documents, Taghi would be owed 17 million by Imperiale. In decrypted message traffic between Imperiale and Taghi's son, it is discussed that in February 2021, 2.5 million euros would have been transported by truck from Italy to the Netherlands in three tranches. This is in line with the conclusion in a recent judgment of the Amsterdam court, which states that Imperiale, Taghi and his son are members of a criminal organization that focuses on drug smuggling and money laundering, among other things.

Findings from recent police investigations show that these types of transactions take place almost daily, nationally and internationally. That investigation is being carried out by the ACM task force, which stands for Approach to Criminal Power Structures. This task force, set up after the murder of Peter R. de Vries in 2021, has investigated criminal money flows in the millions of decrypted messages seized between 2016 and 2021 from various crypto communication services such as Ennetcom, Encrochat and SKY Ecc.

Pay without money
The results of that investigation confirm what criminals have been saying for a long time: the regular banking system is not or hardly used when settling major drug deals. In fact, there is a parallel payment system that is used exclusively by criminals. To break the power of criminal networks, the police want to disrupt this criminal payment system. In addition, according to the Dutch investigative services, this new insight can lead to a fundamental reassessment of the approach of the policy to tackle money laundering of criminal money.

The basic principle of criminal banking is that drug suppliers, smuggling organizations and their buyers act in confidence and thereby complete their transactions as much as possible without cash being passed over the table. For example, a batch of cocaine can be paid for with a batch of ecstasy or the raw materials needed for the production of drugs. An outstanding debt in South America can also be paid with a shipment of clothing that is worth much more than the export papers. That is a simple example of transactions that are usually much more complex and run through different companies or different continents.

moneyman
That payment system has its limits and at certain times you have to pay with real money. A criminal network of brokers and bankers is then used to bring together the supply and demand of cash for a fee, often a percentage of the transaction sum. The transaction between Imperiale and Taghi from the Italian documents is a striking example of this. Apparently, Imperiale owes Taghi 17 million euros. And because Taghi needs money – for what is not clear – part of that debt is settled in cash. According to the police, these types of transactions take place at all levels of the drug economy: local, national and international.

These days, more and more criminals are calling their lawyer about Imperiale's statement: do you know who all are mentioned?

Various sources confirm that Imperiale plays a central role in this criminal money circuit. He not only trades in cocaine, but is also a money man , according to the Italian documents. There, Imperiale is portrayed as “the protagonist of a money laundering network with branches to Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Hong Kong and Singapore”.

Imperiale therefore knows how money flows, where that money has ended up and by whom it is managed. And that is why his testimony causes a lot of unrest - among the men who are handling blocks of cocaine, but also among retired criminals who have laundered their earned money and invested it in legal activities or companies.

That fear is not unjustified, given a detail in the Italian crown witnesses scheme. The law states that Imperiale, as a pentito (regrettant), must tell everything about the wealth obtained through criminal activities in the past and present. So he must declare about every company, investment or property, even if he has invested in it together with others.

Backseat conversations
Sources in Amsterdam compare Imperiale's testimony with the confidential conversations the late Willem Endstra had with the police in 2003 in the back seat of his armored BMW. Underworld banker Endstra feared for his life because he was pressured by various criminal investors to return invested criminal assets. His violent death in 2004 was one in a long line of assassinations all connected to this conflict over criminal money.

Raffaele Imperiale lived a rich life in Dubai
A similar conflict is feared now that Raffaele Imperiale is talking to the police. But then on an international scale. Where Endstra lived in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid and often worked for Dutch criminals, Imperiale lived in Dubai and worked not only with criminals from the Netherlands, but also with Bosnians, Italians, Irish and Spaniards. As a result, the significance of his statements extends far beyond Italy. And that also applies to the violent or non-violent consequences.