I recently went down the rabbit hole of looking for more info on connections between the Italian mafia and the Mexican cartels, when I came across some interesting articles from 2009 about a Camorra associate operating in Dallas and Houston, Texas, working with some Mexicans with cartel ties. Seems completely insane to me....
Mexican cartels funneling shipments to Italian mafia through Texas
Here's some interesting quotes:
"Places like Houston and Dallas are where these criminal organisations are most likely to invest their money," said Antonio Nicaso, an internationally recognised author and lecturer on Italian organized crime. "This is the right time, with the recession going on."
Interesting they reached out to Nicaso up in Canada to grab a quote.
The revelation that the cartels are forming alliances with Italian syndicates came last year when the DEA revealed that the Mexican Gulf cartel, which supplies Dallas with cocaine, was working with New York associates of the powerful Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia.
I knew of this connection previously, but still doesn't explain the Camorra connection. Or, which cartel the Camorra was working with.
Relatively little is known about the local Camorra associate, other than that he had ties to Dallas, Houston and Mexico. The Camorra associate was not charged in the case because agents had not developed enough information to nab him when they were forced to act because of Salinas's leaking information to co-conspirators.
Very frustrating that there's almost no info on the Camorra guy here. What do they mean by "associate"? Someone with connections to the Camorra but not an actual member?
From Dallas, the cocaine was taken to Houston, where the Camorra associate operated a scented candle export business. It took about a month for the cocaine, smuggled amongst the candles, to make the voyage across the Atlantic to Italy.
If the Camorra member had connections to Mexico, why would he be in Texas dealing with Mexicans up there? Unless Mexico was too dangerous... or perhaps he was merely one Camorra member involved in the operation, and he was stationed in Texas to oversee this specific point along the pipeline to ensure everything was operating smoothly. Or, maybe he ended up in Dallas somehow and that's where he made his connect, not in Mexico. Also, I'd assume the cocaine pipeline would flow from Mexico to Texas to New York, then out to Italy. But, again, the article is very light on the details. I'm guessing because it seems they didn't have enough to arrest the Camorristi, so the feds can't release most of the evidence.
Has anyone else heard of this story?
I recently went down the rabbit hole of looking for more info on connections between the Italian mafia and the Mexican cartels, when I came across some interesting articles from 2009 about a Camorra associate operating in Dallas and Houston, Texas, working with some Mexicans with cartel ties. Seems completely insane to me....
[url="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/22/mexico-drug-cartel-italy-mafia"]Mexican cartels funneling shipments to Italian mafia through Texas[/url]
Here's some interesting quotes:
[quote]"Places like Houston and Dallas are where these criminal organisations are most likely to invest their money," said Antonio Nicaso, an internationally recognised author and lecturer on Italian organized crime. "This is the right time, with the recession going on."[/quote]
Interesting they reached out to Nicaso up in Canada to grab a quote.
[quote]The revelation that the cartels are forming alliances with Italian syndicates came last year when the DEA revealed that the Mexican Gulf cartel, which supplies Dallas with cocaine, was working with New York associates of the powerful Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia.[/quote]
I knew of this connection previously, but still doesn't explain the Camorra connection. Or, which cartel the Camorra was working with.
[quote]Relatively little is known about the local Camorra associate, other than that he had ties to Dallas, Houston and Mexico. The Camorra associate was not charged in the case because agents had not developed enough information to nab him when they were forced to act because of Salinas's leaking information to co-conspirators.[/quote]
Very frustrating that there's almost no info on the Camorra guy here. What do they mean by "associate"? Someone with connections to the Camorra but not an actual member?
[quote]From Dallas, the cocaine was taken to Houston, where the Camorra associate operated a scented candle export business. It took about a month for the cocaine, smuggled amongst the candles, to make the voyage across the Atlantic to Italy.[/quote]
If the Camorra member had connections to Mexico, why would he be in Texas dealing with Mexicans up there? Unless Mexico was too dangerous... or perhaps he was merely one Camorra member involved in the operation, and he was stationed in Texas to oversee this specific point along the pipeline to ensure everything was operating smoothly. Or, maybe he ended up in Dallas somehow and that's where he made his connect, not in Mexico. Also, I'd assume the cocaine pipeline would flow from Mexico to Texas to New York, then out to Italy. But, again, the article is very light on the details. I'm guessing because it seems they didn't have enough to arrest the Camorristi, so the feds can't release most of the evidence.
Has anyone else heard of this story?