Series of Mafia summits on the French Riviera (1980-1981-1989)/Locale 'ndrangheta (1994)

[motorfab]

While researching about the Pizza Connection or the establishment of the mafia in France for future texts of my blog, I came across a series of info that can possibly lead to conversations here

So the first point concerns a series of meetings that took place on the Riviera. According to an anonymous source who became a pentito in 1993, at the behest of 'ndrangheta bosses Domenico Libri & Paolo De Stefano.

At that time De Stefano was hiding in France because he was wanted for trafficking cocaine, diamonds, weapons and also by the Imerti & Condello clans who wanted to shoot him. They achieve this in 1986 after De Stefano was arrested in Antibes and extradited in 1982. The meeting with Libri took place in 1980 in Juan-les-Pins in a villa named "Cosa Novira". Besides the fact of the creation of a cosca which will be under the control of Libri, the purpose of the meeting is to organize the trafficking of narcotics, arms and money laundering of the 'ndrangheta.

Another meeting was organized in 1981 at the luxury Negresco hotel in Nice and this time it brought together several other very big names in the mafia. The attendees are:

-Paolo De Stefano
-Domenico Libri
-Giuseppe Morabito, boss of the 'ndrangheta in Africo
-Michele Zaza, Camorra boss also affiliated with Cosa Nostra and active in France, mainly in Nice
-Lorenzo Nuvoletta, same resume as Zaza, except that he has interests in Germany
-Gaetano Fidanzati, boss of the Aranella cosca expatriated in Milan
-A representative of the Gambino Crime Family
-A representative of Corsican organized crime

It seems the purpose of the meeting is the same as the previous one concerning drugs but also centered on real estate investments, sports betting, import exports and major public works. According to this source, the real estate investments concerned, among other things, the hotels in the Disney park of Marne-la-Vallée in the Paris region. Which is not surprising if we take into account that Vinenzo Mazzarella, nephew of Zaza was arrested there in 2004.

Anyway, the informant does not seem to give information on the identity of the representative of the Gambino Crime Family. According to the informant it was this mysterious character and Fidanzati who led the discussions of the meeting

Concerning the Corsican, the only indication is that he was about forty years old and that he got in trouble with the law 7 years later for having managed a luxury brothel. Which excludes the Brise de Mer gang thesis reported by some journalists because at that time the gang was beginning its series of robberies that would build their fortunes and their power (and they were too young anyway).

Another meeting will take place in 1989 at the Elysee Palace hotel in Nice with Zaza & Fidanzati (+ 13 other mafiosi not mentioned), but the French police informed by the Italian counterparts intervene too late and arrest only 3 people.

According to the informants, Vittorio Cannale was in charge after De Stefano's arrest, while other sources says Cannale worked for Libri. Libri was also in hiding in Marseille during the late 80's until his arrest in Marseille's airport in 1992.

Concerning the creation of a Locale on the Côte d'Azur, the pentito Giovanni Bullà gives the following information in 1994 [only those he remembers]:

-Nice : Domenico Marasco (Rosarno), Domenico Scriva (Rosarno), Francesco Stellitano (Delianova)

-Antibes : Rocco Palumbo + his brother (he dont remember the name), Antonino Carbone (relative to the Papalias), Arcangelo D'Agostino, Giuseppe Italiano (all from Delianova)

-Cannes : Salvatore Brando (Palmi)

-Grasse : Francesco Piromalli & Giuseppe Franconi (Gioia Tauro), Rocco Siciliano who was also capo Società (Palmi), Antonio De Marti who was capo Sgarristi (Melicucco ?)

-Vallauris : Girolamo Magnoli and his sons Ippolito, also members of the 'ndrina Piromalli-Mollè, the brothers Altmonte [FNU] + some guys from San Giorgo Morgeto

-Toulon : Domenico Calabrese (Diminniti), Francesco Morabito (Rosarno)

According to Bullà: "Until the years 1978-1979, to my knowledge, there were no criminal acts of particular gravity. The activity of the organization was above all that of reciprocal "mutual aid", that is to say, give hospitality to fugitives, provide them with logistical support, supply of weapons, etc."

Not sure the actual status for the others but the Magnolis are still active : https://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/c54ddd ... C___0.html

Regarding Calabrese & Morabito Bullà says: "these two had a heroin refinery which was then transported to the United States with Piazza Mariano from Marseille, of Sicilian origin; I don't think this refinery was ever discovered. Piazza had a chemist who was later ceded to Gerlando Alberti in Sicily."

The chemist is definitely André Bousquet, a former pediatrician turned heroin chemist. He was arrested in Sicily with Alberti and 2 other chemists. the last time I heard of him he was arrested in 2015 for the same reasons.

For Piazza he was a well-known old Sicilio-Marseillais mobster involved in a huge heroin deal called "Operation Phoenix" set up by Paul Mondoloni and several other kingpins like Zampa, Vanverberghe, Imbert, Fargette and others. The customers were a clan of Sicilian brothers called Benevento. Which earned Mondoloni & Piazza to be among the preferred targets of judge Giovanni Falcone. Noted that a relative of Mariano, Pietro, was also at the heart of a heroin affair in the 60s with Charles Vincileoni... A friend of Mondoloni. Piazza was sentenced with 12 other guys in 1988

[Antiliar]

Interesting stuff.

[B.]

Great info as always.

- Might have missed it, but does it say where the new Family/cosca was based? Nice area?

- We have the Marseille Family and whatever the Grenoble cell was/is (probably a Family or decina). Tunis was French when a Family was there and the mafia left when Tunisia left France. Seems France has been one of the more hospitable countries for Cosa Nostra outside of Italy and US/Canada.

- The Gambino rep brings to mind Venezuela. When the CI went there with Joe Paterno, he thought the two local decinas (who later became Families) were with the Gambino Family but like Felice said, they were actually Sicilian mafia decinas recognized by the Gambino Family because they were located in the Americas. This one isn't in the Americas but we see the Gambino Family involved again with these obscure international Families. The early Gambino Family can be linked to the Liverpool group too.

[motorfab]

Thanks Antiliar & B.

- Might have missed it, but does it say where the new Family/cosca was based? Nice area?

Unfortunately the articles & books I have do not mention the exact location. On the other hand Paolo Stefano was staying in Antibes, and only 22 km (16.6 Miles if you prefer) separate Antibes and Nice, so it was most likely in this area.

Speaking of De Stefano, the house where he was arrested called "Tacita Giorgina" (= silent harmonica, I like the sense of humor of the mafiosi) belonged to a company based in Lugano, Switzerland which laundered the money of the 'ndrangheta ... One of the owners of the management of the house was Vittorio Cannale (or Canale), arrested at the same time as De Stefano but released

- We have the Marseille Family and whatever the Grenoble cell was/is (probably a Family or decina). Tunis was French when a Family was there and the mafia left when Tunisia left France. Seems France has been one of the more hospitable countries for Cosa Nostra outside of Italy and US/Canada.

Tell me about it. Hell, even guys like Francesco Schiavone (in Lyon), Bob Trimbole (very likely somewhere on the Riviera) & Bernardo Provenzano (twice for a chirurgical surgery in Marseille) went through France. The list is endless

Glad you mentioned Grenoble, I forgot to add this yesterday. This is a statement of Nino Calderone (no comment on the fact he was also in hiding in Nice lol) :

-The President: Are there families abroad?
-Antonio Calderone: Families from Cosa Nostra… I heard of a cell of ten which could be in France.
-The President: In Marseille?
-Antonio Calderone: No, I no longer remember the locality. It was in the occurrence of a cell in the province of Enna.

It seems to confirm that it was a decina rather than a cosca, but he confuses Enna & Caltanissetta because later Leonardo Messina confirmed that the capo(decina) was Giacomo Pagano from Sommatino

The Gambino rep brings to mind Venezuela. When the CI went there with Joe Paterno, he thought the two local decinas (who later became Families) were with the Gambino Family but like Felice said, they were actually Sicilian mafia decinas recognized by the Gambino Family because they were located in the Americas. This one isn't in the Americas but we see the Gambino Family involved again with these obscure international Families. The early Gambino Family can be linked to the Liverpool group too.

I would really like to know who the representative was at that meeting, especially since I saw nothing to identify him. Even for the Corsican I have more info, but unfortunately I can't find who he is either

[PolackTony]

Great info as always.

- Might have missed it, but does it say where the new Family/cosca was based? Nice area?

- We have the Marseille Family and whatever the Grenoble cell was/is (probably a Family or decina). Tunis was French when a Family was there and the mafia left when Tunisia left France. Seems France has been one of the more hospitable countries for Cosa Nostra outside of Italy and US/Canada.

- The Gambino rep brings to mind Venezuela. When the CI went there with Joe Paterno, he thought the two local decinas (who later became Families) were with the Gambino Family but like Felice said, they were actually Sicilian mafia decinas recognized by the Gambino Family because they were located in the Americas. This one isn't in the Americas but we see the Gambino Family involved again with these obscure international Families. The early Gambino Family can be linked to the Liverpool group too.

And what I think is interesting here is that we have a Gambino rep holding a meeting with not just Sicilians but ‘Ndrangheta and Camorra along with the Corsicans.

A question I’ve wondered about. Given the Italian ethnocultural origins of the Corsican people, do the Italian mafia groups see the Corsicans as akin to themselves? Do they see them as another Italian mafia group perhaps, or more as “French”?

[B.]

Fab -- When we talked about it before, I remember finding out a huge percentage of the Grenoble Italians come from Sommatino so makes sense it is a decina in their Family. A lot of them also moved to Germany so wonder if they have something there.

--

Zaza was a member of both the Camorra and Cosa Nostra too so could have been included in formal talks between the two groups.

Gaetano Fidanzati's brother Stefano (also a Cosa Nostra member) was at the NYC Bono wedding in 1980. Gaetano had been close to both the Bono brothers and Michele Zaza.

There was also a Camorra leader at the Bono wedding but can't remember his name. He's the guy in this photo on the left:



We know there were a ton of Gambino members at the wedding. Given it happened during the same time as the meetings Fab talked about, seems a lot of possible connections.

[motorfab]

A question I’ve wondered about. Given the Italian ethnocultural origins of the Corsican people, do the Italian mafia groups see the Corsicans as akin to themselves? Do they see them as another Italian mafia group perhaps, or more as “French”?

As you said, the Corsicans or the people of the South/South East of France have a common cultural background with Italy so I think that thanks to this common culture and mentality they are seen as equals or sort of cousins. As the two countries are bordering and have a common history I guess that counts too

[motorfab]

B., yes indeed the period of Bono's wedding matches. It's just my opinion but there is a good chance that the Gambino representative in Nice was a zip or at least someone close to them

[B.]

I was wondering about Corsica when we talked about what Allegra said about other European Families.

The mafia in the US maintained longterm ties to Marseille for drug trafficking so they may have kept contacts going back to when the Family existed there. Corsica was connected to mafia drug trafficking too and right on the way to Marseille from Sicily.

Given they had Families in Marseille and Tunis not hard to believe a small Family could have once existed in Corsica but never seen any mention of Sicilian members living there. Need to look into Sicilian colonies in Paris too... Joe Bonanno stayed with his cousin there before coming to the US.

A Corsican guy attending this meeting is interesting with that in mind given it's very much a "mafia" meeting even though it involved different Italian orgs.

[motorfab]

I was wondering about Corsica when we talked about what Allegra said about other European Families.

The mafia in the US maintained longterm ties to Marseille for drug trafficking so they may have kept contacts going back to when the Family existed there. Corsica was connected to mafia drug trafficking too and right on the way to Marseille from Sicily.

Given they had Families in Marseille and Tunis not hard to believe a small Family could have once existed in Corsica but never seen any mention of Sicilian members living there. Need to look into Sicilian colonies in Paris too... Joe Bonanno stayed with his cousin there before coming to the US.

A Corsican guy attending this meeting is interesting with that in mind given it's very much a "mafia" meeting even though it involved different Italian orgs.

It's actually because the Corsicans mobsters were mainly in Marseille. On the contrary of the Sicilian or American mafia, Corscian organized crime developed on the mainland in various cities and not on the Island. It's almost as if there are more Corsicans in Marseille than in Corsica lol. Since the 80s and the return of Jean-Jé Colonna and the emergence of La Brise de Mer, the situation has been reversed. Like I said to PolackTony a little bit earlier in PM, French mob is not really about ethnicity or structral hierarchy like the sicilians or calabrians but more about strong individualities, connections or skills. A guy from Paris, St Etienne, Lyon or from Algeria like the Zemour brothers could be as much important as the Corsicans or Marseillais. But it's true that guys from south/south east were more connected to the Italians/Americans/Canadians

On the other hand, it is impossible that an Italian borgata could have existed in Corsica. Apart from shepherds and sheep there was absolutely nothing on the island until about forty years ago with the development of tourism and the real estate boom. It is among other things because of this that many Corsicans left the island at the beginning of the 20th century and that since the 1970s independence movements were born (if a Corsican reads this one day he will kill me )

[lennert]

I might be misremembering here, but didn’t Mariano Piazza figure in this drug case involving San Jose’s/former Pittsburgh mobster George Adragna and his wife? This also involved the Cherry Hill Gambinos if I remember correctly…


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[Angelo Santino]

I wondered this as well. I see some surnames that appear Italo in origin.

[aleksandrored]

Very Interesting, thanks fella.

[B.]

It's actually because the Corsicans mobsters were mainly in Marseille. On the contrary of the Sicilian or American mafia, Corscian organized crime developed on the mainland in various cities and not on the Island. It's almost as if there are more Corsicans in Marseille than in Corsica lol. Since the 80s and the return of Jean-Jé Colonna and the emergence of La Brise de Mer, the situation has been reversed. Like I said to PolackTony a little bit earlier in PM, French mob is not really about ethnicity or structral hierarchy like the sicilians or calabrians but more about strong individualities, connections or skills. A guy from Paris, St Etienne, Lyon or from Algeria like the Zemour brothers could be as much important as the Corsicans or Marseillais. But it's true that guys from south/south east were more connected to the Italians/Americans/Canadians

On the other hand, it is impossible that an Italian borgata could have existed in Corsica. Apart from shepherds and sheep there was absolutely nothing on the island until about forty years ago with the development of tourism and the real estate boom. It is among other things because of this that many Corsicans left the island at the beginning of the 20th century and that since the 1970s independence movements were born (if a Corsican reads this one day he will kill me )

Not sure I would rule it out based on Corsica being rural alone... most Sicilian mafiosi came from farming/rural backgrounds and even preferred living that way, so Corsica still could have had appeal as an outpost. I know nothing though and have no clue if there were Sicilian colonies there at any point.

Very interesting info on Corsica all around. You're an incredible asset on these "French connections".

Back to the original post, we talked about this privately, but I assumed the establishment of a "cosca" meant Sicilian mafia and you said it wasn't clear if this was an 'Ndrangheta group that was established or Sicilian mafia. The fact that Zaza was involved and had dual membership between Camorra/Sicily makes it more confusing. If they used the word "cosca" or something similar I would assume it was a Sicilian mafia Family even if it included non-Sicilian members, but it doesn't seem 100% clear.

[PolackTony]

I wondered this as well. I see some surnames that appear Italo in origin.

You mean Corsican surnames?