57 minutes ago
Germany, maxi police operation against drug rings of the 'Ndrangheta

JOSEPH SPAGNUOLO
Anti-Ndrangheta operation in Germany, in recent days the DDA had arrested the "godfather" of the "papaniciari", a leading exponent of Calabrian crime

Operation Ndrangheta Germany

Maxi anti -'Ndrangheta operation in Germany , where the police are in action between Hoexter and Duisburg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, and in Kassel, in Hesse. The Paderborn prosecutor's office and the Bielefeld police station are investigating the case: the investigation is linked to drug trafficking orchestrated by the Calabrian mafia.

The objective of the blitz of the police forces is to trace and seize the narcotic substances. There are several suspects in the crosshairs , all allegedly affiliated with the 'Ndrangheta. Some of them have already ended up in handcuffs.

It all started after the Hoexter police discovery of 300 pounds of marijuana . A discovery made last January, which had opened the hypothesis of a link between the loot and organized crime in Calabria.

Anti-'Ndrangheta operation in Germany, in recent days the blitz against the 'ndrina of the "papaniciari"
Just in Germany, in the last few days, the District Anti-Mafia Directorate had come into action . The DDA had focused its attention on the 'ndrina of the "papaniciari", the Papanice clan active in the province of Crotone.

In Muenster, the "godfather" of the city, an important exponent of the 'Ndrangheta , had been arrested . Then it was the turn of the mobster's brother, who chose to voluntarily surrender to the Stuttgart police.

Both were recipients of an international arrest warrant issued by the Catanzaro prosecutor's office. For the two brothers, aged 70 and 62 respectively, the Italian judiciary requested extradition . The same goes for the other 'Ndrangheta members captured in Germany, accused of belonging to a criminal organization and money laundering .

In Germany for almost fifty years now, the "godfather of Muenster" led an unsuspected life . He was an entrepreneur in the field of gastronomy in a residential area of ??the city. Under the table, he would have been carrying out money laundering activities for the 'Ndrangheta for at least thirty years. With nine other affiliates he would have given life to the so-called "Crime of Germany", a mediating body between the interests of the 'ndrine in German territory.

Nicola Gratteri, prosecutor of Catanzaro, underlines how Germany is the territory in which the 'Ndrangheta is most eradicated outside the Italian borders.