From "Coca Tauro" to other ports, cocaine is the business of the ndrangheta
Domenico Latino analyzed the Italian Port Security report on Italian port security 2018 in Gazzetta del Sud

Of editorial board - January 4, 2019

The traffic of cocaine is still firmly in the hands of the ndragheta. And 'this is the main fact that emerges from the report of " Italian port security " analyzed by Domenico Latino on the issue today of the Southern Journal .

One of the novelties in the traffic of white powder is the search by families of new routes and ports in order to make the detection of loads by the investigators more difficult.
The report reads: «Among all the various mafia-type organizations in Italy, in fact, the Calabrian has managed to acquire almost total control of this traffic, pushing other criminal organizations, Italian or foreign, to specialize in the traffic of other drugs or in other illicit traffics. The peculiarity of the 'Ndrangheta is that the detention of this monopoly allows it to care less than other trades, such as that of foreign manufactured tobacco, preferring to leave this type of activity in Camorra and Puglia mafias, almost to divide up the proceeds for a peaceful modus vivendi. The acquisition of this substantial monopoly was possible thanks to the creation of solid relations with the South American cartels that made the 'Ndrangheta
among the most important mafia organizations in the world, with ramifications also in Central and Northern Italy and in the rest of Europe (as well as in the rest of the world). Therefore, it is the other Italian mafia organizations that have to turn to the Calabrian clans for the purchase of cocaine consignments ".
Gioia Tauro, according to the study published by Clarissa Spada and Francesco Marone and edited by Lorenzo Vidino, continues to be the main gateway to white powder in Italy.

"And it is precisely in this way - the authors write - that the port of Gioia Tauro increases even more its importance in the world chessboard of traffic. As known, in fact, it also constitutes the largest entrance door to cocaine, so much so as to be sometimes called "Coca Tauro". A port which has now become fundamental for the 'Ndrangheta, where the most important families of the Gioia Tauro plain - Piromalli, Pesce, Molè, Bellocco - dominate and succeed in penetrating the management of the port on several levels ».
The strong crackdown on Gioia Tauro has meant that the 'ndrangheta has gradually started to look elsewhere, looking for new points of arrival, where to get its "white gold" from South America. "The various gangs have thus thought to address the ports of Northern Italy, such as those of Genoa, La Spezia, Vado Ligure (SV), Livorno, Venice. The dangerous bonds that the clans have managed to create and cement have made these areas a crossroads of sorting ", moreover, closer" to the remunerative dealing channels ".

The impressive checks carried out over the years in the Calabria airport have pushed the clans to diversify the routes and try to find new points of arrival for cocaine. "The various gangs have thus thought to address the ports of Northern Italy, such as those of Genoa, La Spezia, Vado Ligure (SV), Livorno, Venice. The dangerous bonds that the clans managed to create and cement have made these areas a sort of crossroads ".

Analyzing the report he writes this morning Latino in Gazzetta del sud: "The container is certainly the most widely used means of transporting coca, concealed behind cover loads, sophisticated double doppers developed to circumvent the X-ray controls or even , in empty containers. For some years the technique of rip-off system has been adopted, which consists in positioning the drug lot in bags in front of the container ship, in such a way as to be easily extracted from "infidel" port operators. Another one concerns transshipment operations off the coasts on smaller boats, often fishing boats. It also happens that the drugs are thrown into the sea from the mother ship, equipped with GPS, so as to intercept them. Finally,