[www.inewsguyana.com] – Guyana has been named notably among other ports used by an international alliance between the New York Mafia and a powerful crime syndicate in Italy to smuggle drugs.
More than 20 gangsters have been busted for drug trafficking and other offenses, federal authorities announced Tuesday (February 11).
“Six Gambino and Bonanno crime family mobsters were rounded up early Tuesday by the FBI along with one member of the Calabria-based” ‘Ndrangheta, authorities said. The Italian police reportedly also arrested 17 members of the syndicate.
Prosecutors said the New York Mafia conspired with the Italian syndicate to traffic cocaine and heroin stashed in shipments of pineapples, frozen fish and other food.
The shipments traveled through ports in Guyana, where Mexican drug cartel members facilitated deliveries, prosecutors said. The ‘Ndrangheta guaranteed smooth import and export from Italy thanks to a corrupt port official in Gioia Tauro, Calabria, according to a release.
Authorities dealt a blow to the massive conspiracy when shipping containers originating from Guyana were seized in Malaysia. The containers held over $7 million in cocaine hidden in pineapples and coconut milk, prosecutors said.
“The ‘Ndrangheta is an exceptionally dangerous, sophisticated and insidious criminal organization, with tentacles stretching from Italy to countries around the world,” Brooklyn U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch said.
The mobsters arrested in New York will be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court on drug, money laundering and weapons charges. Franco Lupoi, 44, a reputed member of the Gambino family was taken into custody in New York, according to a press release.
The Gambino and Bonanno families have long-established ties to the Sicilian Mafia, but organized crime experts have said that the Calabria-based ‘Ndrangheta syndicate in recent years has eclipsed the Sicilians and the Neapolitan Camorra in power and wealth. Much of ‘Ndrangheta’s illicit money is derived from drug trafficking.
The five New York Mafia families claim to abide by a rule prohibiting rackets involving illegal narcotics, but the rule has been violated time and again.
The ‘Ndrangheta is considered one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world.
