“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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The major operation against Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta mafia, is described by authorities as the “largest ever” coordinated hit against Italian organized crime. The network was mainly focused on international drug trafficking from South America to Europe, as well as to Australia, Europol said.
Authorities took into custody 132 suspected members of the ‘Ndrangheta network in busts across Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Romania, Brazil, and Panama, Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, said. Over 2,770 officers were involved in the operation.
“This morning, a large-scale European operation took place in several countries. It concerns a case opened by the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, in collaboration with the Limburg Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Judicial Police, Eurojust, Europol, and various countries, in particular Italy,” the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement earlier.
Speaking during a joint press conference in Reggio Calabria on Wednesday, investigative magistrate Giovanni Bombardieri, who led the Italian investigation, said coordination of the operation began two months ago, calling it the “most important” operation targeting the ‘Ndrangheta group.
Europol said that the “criminal network under investigation was led by several powerful ‘Ndrangheta families based mainly in the town of San Luca,” in Reggio Calabria. “Some of these families have been involved in decades-long clan violence known as the San Luca feud, culminating in massive shootings in Italy and abroad, such as the Duisburg massacre in Germany in 2007,” the Europol statement said.
In addition to being part of a Mafia-style organization, members of the network were also arrested in connection with suspected drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, illegal firearms possession, money laundering, fraudulent asset registration, tax fraud and tax evasion, and the aiding and abetting of fugitives. Two of these fugitives had been on the EU Most Wanted list.
Weapons & Money Laundering in South America
Authorities uncovered that the network was working in partnership with the Colombian Clan del Golfo and an Albanian-speaking crime group operating in Ecuador and multiple European countries. Furthermore, the ‘Ndrangheta clans were involved in international firearms trafficking from Pakistan to South America, providing weapons to the notorious criminal group PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) in Brazil in exchange for cocaine shipments.
Investigators tracked the flow of money in an extensive global money laundering system, with massive investments in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. The criminal group was investing its profits in real estate, restaurants, hotels, car wash companies, supermarkets, and other commercial activities. In order to pay for cocaine or to transfer illicit assets, the criminals often relied on facilitators using the Hawala system.