The cocaine mine that flows from the Colombian jungles sees two mafia organizations of Italian origin in open competition to grab the largest quantity of goods and at the same time to control the destination ports in Europe.
It’s about the Camorra, a centuries-old brotherhood that extends global networks from Naples and the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian clan of clans.
Although their illegal dealings with Colombia date back to the days when the Medellin and Cali cartels freely distributed the white powder, their activity has become more visible since demobilization of the former FARC (2016)when that guerrilla stopped monopolizing the coca leaf harvest.
In the last year, seven delegates of these groups have been captured, an unusual frequency which, according to intelligence sources consulted by EL COLOMBIANO, reflects an attempt by the Italian mafia to increase its participation in the transnational drug trafficking produced in our country. What consequences does this have for the safety of Colombians?
The Neapolitans on stage
The Camorra has its origins in the 17th century, when the monarchy that reigned in the Italian region of Naples neglected the most marginal sectors, leaving them in the hands of crime. Thus, organized structures were formed that implemented an illegal control regime that has lasted to the present day, adapting to the evolution of the times.
Today it functions as a confederation of dozens of crime families, who form a sort of board of directors to divide up territories and businesses.
They arrived in Colombia in the 80s, of the hand of the Cosa Nostra, another secular organization born in Sicily, which established relationships with Pablo Escobar’s cartel.
While its structure was weakened by persecution by the FBI, Interpol and the Italian police, the tentacles of Cosa Nostra languished in Colombia. The Camorra took advantage of the scenario, and inherited some of his contacts, especially in Medellín.
On October 21, General William Salamanca, director of the Police, announced the arrest of Gustavo Nocella Italian58 years old, nicknamed “Ermes”, fugitive from the Neapolitan authorities. According to his file, he coordinated the complete logistics that included shipping cocaine on ships and sailboats leaving the Caribbean en route to the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands; and from there they were distributed to the destination locations via trucks.
According to Salamanca, “Ermes” worked for three Camorra clans: the De Micco, Rinaldi Formicola and Amato Pagano families.
He had settled in the municipality of El Poblado, in the south-east of Medellín, and changed apartments every three months to make his persecution more difficult; However, He had a weakness: billiards.
In every residence he rented, he sent a table of this sport to enjoy in solitude. The Dijín police installed a GPS in one of them and thus discovered their hideout.
Four days later, the second rioter was arrested. Luigi Belvedere (“el Colombiano”), 32 years old, moved with the same modus operandi: renting more apartments in El Poblado. He also had a gourmet pizzeria in Cartagena, which served as a cover for going to the port area to coordinate the operation.
He performed the same task as the billiard player, although he not only monitored routes to the Netherlands, but also to Spain, Germany and Italy.
The logistics of the Calabrian mafia
While Camorra operations appear to be growing in Colombia, the ‘Ndrangheta is having an impact “ten times bigger in business”, according to the sources consulted. In fact, Interpol estimates that it is responsible for at least 60% of the cocaine entering Europe.
Its structure was forged in the 19th century, including by the interrelationship of crime families, and remains so today managed by a board of directors called “the Province”, which brings together the masters.
In Colombia they built their networks in the late 1990s, with the support of the Norte del Valle cartel and paramilitaries, but their real foray into cocaine heavyweights came during and after peace negotiations between the government and the FARC. The demobilization of that guerrilla that monopolized 70% of the coca crops, democratized access to goods and the ‘Ndrangheta increased the number of its delegates.
Between 2013 and 2016, Domenico Trimboli (“Pasqale”), Roberto Pannunzi (“Bebé”) and Enricco Muzzolini, who coordinated dispatches from Medellín and Bogotá, were identified by the Police.
In 2021, a network of Colombians working for that organization was unmasked, with the capture in Medellín of Jaime Cano Sucerquia (“Jota”), accused of having participated in the shipment of 63 kilos of cocaine to Livorno (Italy).
In November 2023 he was captured in Barranquilla Massimo Gigliotti, 55 years old, who apparently monitored the traffic from there to Milan; On February 3, 2024, the trafficker fell in Cali Pouya Mohmini, of German and Iranian nationality, who have articulated a route towards Germany; and on 29 October, the Colombians César Hernández Caballero (“El Calvo”), José Méndez Caycedo and Haroll Miranda Castaño, alleged logistics operators of another route on which they allegedly sent containers contaminated by the narcotic to the port of Gioia Tauro, in the province of Calabria.
Connections with FARC dissidents
The main partners of the Italian mafia in Colombia are “the Office” and the Gulf Clangiven the contacts and influence they have in the port areas of Cartagena, Barranquilla and Urabá, the favorite places for Europeans to ship drugs.
Indeed, General Salamanca revealed a plan in which these two groups would receive 3 billion dollars to save the Camorrero Luigi Belvedere in Medellín. Apparently the foreigner pretended to be ill to be taken out of the cell, and on the way to the medical center he was freed with blood and fire by Paisa’s hitmen.
Unlike the Camorra, the ‘Ndrangheta is exploring new suppliers and delivery areas. The recent captures of the German-Iranian Pouya Mohmini and the Colombians Hernández, Méndez and Miranda, demonstrated that they were establish contacts in Valle and Nariño with the FARC dissident called the Central General Staff. This alliance would facilitate traffic from Pacific ports, such as Buenaventura (Valle), Tumaco (Nariño) and Guayaquil (Ecuador).
Evan Ellis, professor of Latin American studies at the US Army War College.he told EL COLOMBIANO that “the ‘Ndrangheta has an established influence in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Bonaire and other Caribbean islands,” which means relatively safe transit of drugs by sea.
They also bring Bolivian and Peruvian alkaloids from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Furthermore, they have a strong presence in the ports of Rotterdam (Netherlands), Antwerp (Bel
Unlike what happens with the Mexican cartels, the competition between the Camorra and the ‘Ndrangheta is not bloodyuntil now; According to the police, there were also episodes of collaboration, especially for distribution in Europe.
The Colombian market is so big, with its 253,000 hectares of coca cultivation and an annual production of 2,664 tons of cocaine, according to the UN there is no need to fight. For Italian gangsters, the business is more profitable today than in the days when they bought from Pablo Escobar.
The prospects are not encouraging for Colombia’s security, as the money invested strengthens local armed groups and this only means more weapons, more attacks and more deaths in the land of coca.
ANNEX: THE 19 FOREIGN MAFIAS WITH THE DRUG TRADE IN COLOMBIA
The sustained increase in coca cultivation in the last decade, from 48,000 hectares in 2013 to 253,000 hectares. in 2023, and potential cocaine production grew from 331 tonnes per year in 2013 to 2,664 tonnes. last year they attracted international mafias to Colombia like bees to a jar of honey.
According to documents from Interpol, DEA and Europol and journalistic investigations by EL COLOMBIANO, the activities of 19 foreign mafia groups, coming from 16 countries, have currently been identified in our country. Below is the list:
Mexico: Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generación and the Gulf cartels, which export cocaine to the United States and Europe, being the main customers of Colombian producers.
Italy: ‘Ndrangheta, Camorra and Cosa Nostra, with drug exports to Europe.
Venezuela: The Aragua train and the Los Soles and La Guajira cartels, which export cocaine along the Caribbean route.
Republic of Ireland: Kinahan Clan, with partners in the Aburrá Valley to export to the UK.
Brazil: Primeiro Comando da Capital, Comando Vermelho and Familia do Norte, who exploit cocaine and cocaine routes in the Amazon, in association with FARC dissidents.
Lebanon: Hezbollah, which coordinates a money laundering network for Colombian and Mexican drug trafficking groups.
Spain: Devesa Clan, exporter of cocaine along the route that crosses Africa and reaches the Mediterranean, in association with drug traffickers from Ecuador.
The Balkans: The operations of three organizations exporting cocaine to the Old Continent have been identified: Saric Group, coming from Serbia, Albania and Macedonia; the Amerika Group, from Bosnia and Serbia; and the Keka Group, from Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. In the neighboring country of Ecuador they operate the port of Guayaquil.
Netherlands and Morocco (Mocromafia): the Taghi Group, which coordinated drug trafficking to Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.
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