News from Italy

[Antiliar]

According to these articles he's the capo of the Pagliarelli mandamento
https://video.ilmattino.it/cronaca/sett ... 50497.html
http://www.liberoreporter.it/2018/12/pr ... relli.html

Not sure which borgate are members of the Pagliarelli mandamento. Pagliarelli used to be part of the Santa Maria de Gesu mandamento.

This article seems to indicate that Mineo succeeded Matteo Motisi as capo of the Pagliarelli borgata:
https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2 ... 213340849/

[Wiseguy]

According to these articles he's the capo of the Pagliarelli mandamento
https://video.ilmattino.it/cronaca/sett ... 50497.html
http://www.liberoreporter.it/2018/12/pr ... relli.html

Not sure which borgate are members of the Pagliarelli mandamento. Pagliarelli used to be part of the Santa Maria de Gesu mandamento.

This article seems to indicate that Mineo succeeded Matteo Motisi as capo of the Pagliarelli borgata:
https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2 ... 213340849/

Thanks for the info.

According to the 2017 report Direzione Investigativa Antimafia report at the link below, the Pagliarelli, Borgo Molara, Corso Calatafimi, Rocco-Mezzo Monreale, and Villagio Santa Rosalia families are part of the mandamento.

Schermata-2017-01-31-alle-10.51.23.png

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... Lh1KhfvbLF

Anyway, it seems Motisi (a top guy in one of Palermo's most powerful clans) was trying to do what others (Rotolo, etc) have in recent years as far as reconvening the Cupola.

[Strax]

Well as police focuses on 'Ndrangheta the Sicilian Mafia had time to rebuild a little.

[Strax]

Other members of commission are:

Gregorio Di Giovanni, capomandamento of Porta Nuova

Filippo Bisconti, capomandamento of Misilmeri

Francesco Colletti, capomandamento of Villabate

Filippo Annatelli, boss of Corso Calatafimi family (Pagliarelli mandamento)

Salvatore Sorrentino, boss of Santa Rosalia family (Pagliarelli mandamento)

Salvatore Sciarabba, boss of Belmonte Mezzagno family (Misilmeri mandamento)

Gaspare Rizzuto, boss of Palermo Centro family (Porta Nuova mandamento)

Salvatore Pispicia, underboss of Porta Nuova family

Massimo Mulè, capodecina of Porta Nuova family (Porta Nuova mandamento)

Gaetano Leto, capodecina of Porta Nuova family (Porta Nuova mandamento)


Wondering if Matteo Messina Denaro was present on meeting.

[Wiseguy]

Other members of commission are:

Gregorio Di Giovanni, capomandamento of Porta Nuova

Filippo Bisconti, capomandamento of Misilmeri

Francesco Colletti, capomandamento of Villabate

Filippo Annatelli, boss of Corso Calatafimi family (Pagliarelli mandamento)

Salvatore Sorrentino, boss of Santa Rosalia family (Pagliarelli mandamento)

Salvatore Sciarabba, boss of Belmonte Mezzagno family (Misilmeri mandamento)

Gaspare Rizzuto, boss of Palermo Centro family (Porta Nuova mandamento)

Salvatore Pispicia, underboss of Porta Nuova family

Massimo Mulè, capodecina of Porta Nuova family (Porta Nuova mandamento)

Gaetano Leto, capodecina of Porta Nuova family (Porta Nuova mandamento)


Wondering if Matteo Messina Denaro was present on meeting.

What about the San Lorenzo mandamento? At least at one time they were the top clan in Palermo.

[scagghiuni]

Other members of commission are:

Gregorio Di Giovanni, capomandamento of Porta Nuova

Filippo Bisconti, capomandamento of Misilmeri

Francesco Colletti, capomandamento of Villabate

Filippo Annatelli, boss of Corso Calatafimi family (Pagliarelli mandamento)

Salvatore Sorrentino, boss of Santa Rosalia family (Pagliarelli mandamento)

Salvatore Sciarabba, boss of Belmonte Mezzagno family (Misilmeri mandamento)

Gaspare Rizzuto, boss of Palermo Centro family (Porta Nuova mandamento)

Salvatore Pispicia, underboss of Porta Nuova family

Massimo Mulè, capodecina of Porta Nuova family (Porta Nuova mandamento)

Gaetano Leto, capodecina of Porta Nuova family (Porta Nuova mandamento)


Wondering if Matteo Messina Denaro was present on meeting.

What about the San Lorenzo mandamento? At least at one time they were the top clan in Palermo.

the capomandamento of san lorenzo is giulio caporrimo according to police
in this operation they arrested only four capimandamento/members of the commission (porta nuova, pagliarelli, misilmeri/belmonte mezzagno, villabate/bagheria)

[Strax]

Whats up with Pino Lo Verde from San Lorenzo ?

[Strax]

Italy's 'Ndrangheta mafia hit by huge international sweep

Police arrested dozens of people in Europe and South America in a "decisive hit" against Italy's notorious 'Ndrangheta mafia group, officials said Thursday.

The international sweep involved police in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium working together against the powerful organised crime syndicate based in southern Italy.

The group was involved in "cocaine trafficking, money laundering, bribery and violence", the European judicial agency Eurojust said in a statement.

It said the operation codenamed "Pollino" followed an investigation that began in 2016, adding that it would give more details at a press conference in The Hague later.

Italian police said 90 people had been arrested so far in the operation targeting the 'Ndrangheta group and its "projections across South America."

The vast anti-mafia operation was carried out by Italy's anti-mafia and anti-terrorism force in collaboration with German, Belgian and Dutch authorities, it said.

Italian media said key organised crime family members were targeted.

The European police agency Europol said it was a "decisive hit against one of the most powerful Italian criminal networks in the world."

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, who is Italian, sent "congraulations" to the police forces involved, adding: "Europe fights 'Ndrangheta criminal groups."

- 'Operates on all continents' -

The 'Ndrangheta -- which derives its meaning from the Greek word for "heroism" -- is made up of numerous village and family-based clans in Calabria, the rural, mountainous and under-developed "toe" of Italy's boot.

Despite intense police attention and frequent arrests, the organisation has continued to extend its reach.

It has surpassed Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra in influence thanks to its control of the cocaine trade, and is the sole mafia organisation to operate on all continents, according to anti-mafia prosecutors.

The Europe-wide operation came a day after Italian police arrested new Cosa Nostra boss Settimino Mineo and dozens of other suspects in Sicily in a major swoop.

Jeweller Mineo, 80, was detained along with at least 45 others just before he was due to be appointed official heir to notorious mafia boss Toto Riina who died in prison last year.

In Germany, Wednesday's operation focused on restaurants, offices and apartments linked to the mafia group, focusd on the North Rhine-Westphalia region, Der Spiegel reported.

It said 47 suspects had been targeted and 65 premises were being searched, adding that searches were also underway in Spain.

Dutch NOS television said the 'Ndrangheta were mainly active in the Netherlands in drug smuggling through the country's huge flower export market.

Belgian media said the arrests in that country were concentrated in the Limburg area.

Police in several countries including these in Germany raided properties linked to the Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia group

Italian media said key organised crime family members were targeted in the raids, such as this one in Cologne

Before Wednesday's Europe-wide raid, Italian police arrested the new boss of the Sicilian Mafia, Settimino Mineo

Wednesday's operation focused on restaurants, offices and apartments linked to the mafia group, such as this Italian restaurant in Pulheim, western Germany

Source: https://au.news.yahoo.com/italys-ndrang ... 3fBCjE5LFI

[CabriniGreen]

Different Article, same bust....

https://www.occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/ccbl ... ean-police

[CabriniGreen]

Couple things...

This Domenico Pelle is s kid... looks like he could a been in the show Gommorah, lol

Also, I'm really interested in knowing who the incarcerated female boss is/ was... Maria Licciarddi?

[ChicagoOutfit]

Did Italy/Sicily/Cosa Nostra have a commission in existance prior to 1931? Or did they take a page out of Lucky Luciano's book?

Did the name Cosa Nostra exist prior to the formation of the American Mafia/Cosa Nostra? I've read posts that say the term was coined by the Americans and I've read that the term was brought over from Sicily.

Thanks for your help! (Also posting this in the questions thread)

[scagghiuni]

Did Italy/Sicily/Cosa Nostra have a commission in existance prior to 1931? Or did they take a page out of Lucky Luciano's book?

Did the name Cosa Nostra exist prior to the formation of the American Mafia/Cosa Nostra? I've read posts that say the term was coined by the Americans and I've read that the term was brought over from Sicily.

Thanks for your help! (Also posting this in the questions thread)

according to sangiorgi report in 1898 the boss of bosses of the sicilian mafia was francesco siino from noce, so there was a sort of commission even at that time in 1950s the sicilians formed a commission like buscetta testified... before 1984 anyway the only few informants never testified in a trial because killed before, so the informations of the past ara not so good
they started to call sicilian organized crime 'mafia' only after 1865, before it was simply called 'the sect'
and cosa nostra only since 1950s, the word was probably imported by the states, anyway the organization has not a real name

[Strax]

Boss Francesco Colletti just flipped ! He is also member of cupola, he was arrested on December 4th.

[Wiseguy]

Italy Confiscates $40 Million in Assets Linked to Corleone Mafia
December 24, 2018


Sicilian police seized gas industry companies, real estate, cars and cash in Italy, Spain and Andorra as part of a crackdown on money laundering operations by the infamous Corleonesi mafia clan, Palermo prosecutors said Friday.

The industrial network targeted by the seizures dates back to the 1980’s, when Ezio Ruggero Maria Brancato — a former Sicily government official who died in 2000 — created the foundations for Sicily’s gas industry.

Brancato and his heirs worked together with two well-known Cosa Nostra figures from Corleone, Vito Ciancimino and Bernardo “The Tractor” Provenzano, to create a gas industry network, according to a Tax Police press release.

The Sicilian entrepreneur was a shareholder in six companies belonging to the Palermo-based Gas Group, which investigators say was under control of the Corleone mafia clan. Ciancimino and Provenzano had invested substantial sums into the business.

Ciancimino worked as a liaison between the Gas Group and the mafia clan headed by Riina Salvatore and Provenzano.

“The 'Gas Group,' through sub-contracts awarded to companies close to organized crime, would interact with Cosa Nostra in a 'mutual benefit' relationship, acting as mafia conspirators," police said in a statement.

Brancato’s widow Maria D’Anna and their daughters Monia and Antonella sold their shares in the Gas Group for 46 million euros to Spanish multinational Gas Natural in 2004. The company as a whole was valued at 115 million euros at the time.

With the proceeds of the sale, the Brancato family bought expensive property — including famous historic sites across Palermo, Sardinia and Spain.

In cooperation with Spanish and Andorra police, authorities seized six companies, 59 properties, four cars, a motorcycle as well as bank accounts and security boxes with jewels and thousands in cash registered to third parties and companies.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/9063-ita ... eone-mafia

[Strax]

Shame on Italy for this.


Brother of mafia supergrass shot dead on Christmas Day


Marcello Bruzzese, brother of ex-mafioso whose testimony led to arrests of ‘Ndrangheta members, killed in Pesaro

The brother of a former mafia member who turned supergrass was fatally shot by two hooded men on Christmas Day , in what police suspect was a killing ordered by a clan of the powerful Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta.

Marcello Bruzzese, 51, was killed while he was returning home in the historical centre of Pesaro, in the Italian region of the Marche.

According to the police, the killers, who were wearing balaclavas, waited near the victim’s apartment and fired at least 20 shots at him.

Bruzzese’s father, Domenico, a lieutenant of the notorious boss Teodoro Crea, was killed in 1995 in what was thought to be a mafia ambush. Marcello Bruzzese’s brother, Girolamo, joined a crime family in Rizziconi, a town in the province of Reggio Calabria.

Following an internal conflict in the family, in October 2003 Girolamo shot Crea. A few days later he went to the police and collaborated with the authorities to provide information about his former affiliates.

Crea survived the murder attempt but was eventually arrested and is serving a prison sentence. Girolamo’s confessions led to the arrests of several members of the ’Ndrangheta, including politicians with links to the crime family.

Marcello was not a member of the ’Ndrangheta and moved to Pesaro three years ago. Police are investigating whether the fatal shooting was revenge for Girolamo’s confessions. According to la Repubblica, investigators believe the murder could be a “revenge from the past”.

According to reports, the ‘Ndrangheta is thought to have hundreds of key affiliates in 30 countries, and its activities are believed to involve thousands of people worldwide.

A study by the Demoskopika research institute in 2013 claimed the ‘Ndrangheta made more money than Deutsche Bank and McDonald’s put together, with a turnover of €53bn (£44bn).