Friends of Ours

Calabrian Mafia Is Top Dog In Italian Underworld

In recent years Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia has been eclipsed by the 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia as Italy's most powerful crime group due to its obscene profits from the cocaine trade as reported by Tristan Dessert for France 24:

The 'Ndrangheta controls the majority of international cocaine traffic, with an estimated 80 percent monopoly on European imports of the white powder. The organisation pulls in 44 billion euros a year; that's almost three percent of Italy's GDP, which means the 'Ndrangheta has as much financial clout as a small European country, or a huge multinational corporation.

The drug trafficking crime group launders much of its dirty money in the German economy where it invests "millions of euros in hotel chains and restaurants (they own 300 pizzerias)" according to Petra Reski in her new book The Honoured Society as reported by P.D. Smith for The Guardian.

The 'Ndrangheta has migrated from Italy's southern Calabria region into the wealthier northern cities, and further has become entrenched in Australia, Canada and the United States with surprisingly little push back from law enforcement in those countries.

Mob Boss Takes One For The Team; Turns Self In To Deflect Heat Against 'Ndrangheta

The Pesce clan from the 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia is "a criminal dynasty" spanning at least three generations which has "built a family empire worth at least £200m through drug trafficking across Europe," and earlier this week its 33-year-old acting boss Giuseppe Pesce surrended after three years on the lam in an apparent bid to stave off police pressure on the criminal network as reported by Elena Cosentino for BBC News:

The net had been closing around Peppe Pesce for months as, one by one, his accomplices had been arrested. Only two weeks ago his wife, who is seven months pregnant, was put under house arrest for passing her husband's orders around.  "This is a major success for the authority of the state. But don't be fooled," said Alessandra Cerreti, who led the investigation and prosecution against the clan.  "These are never individual decisions. Usually they are clan strategies. By sacrificing one they hope to relieve the pressure we are putting on the whole organisation. But it won't work."

Drug Smorgasbord On Flower Truck

A truck en route from Holland into Naples was smuggling drugs -- 73 kilograms of pot, hash and coke worth 2 million euros -- among its load of flowers as reported by ANSA.  The drug trade in Naples is controlled by the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia, and an ongoing turf war between the rival Scissionisti and Di Lauro clans has claimed dozens of mobsters in recent months.

Italian Police Arrest Mafia Beancounter

Luigi Galletti of the Contini clan from the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia has been arrested afer a year on the lam as reported by ANSA.  In annoucing the arrest Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Galletti was "an important fugitive because he kept the records for payments to the Contini clan's affiliates."

Animal: The Bloody Rise and Fall of the Mob's Most Feared Assassin

A new book by Casey Sherman is out about mob-hitman-turned-government-witness Joe "the Animal" Barboza who was gunned down in 1976 in San Franciso for his betrayal against New England boss Raymond Patriarca as reported by KPIX.