Is the ndrangheta still involved with kidnappings? And is it true that they used ransom money to fund the port in Calabria? Prior to this they were considered low level criminals but now they allegedly supply 80% of Europe with cocaine through that port.

Not on a big scale like in the past target rich people like Getty, but they do happen in the underworld among themselves.

No after the italian government made a law that freeze all kidnapped's family assetts in 1990 the ndrangheta focused on the cocaine traffick,plus for every people kidnapped they risk 30 y if the victim survive and the life sentence if die.

Who had the idea to build the port after the kidnappings? They had to have made a large sum to be able to pay for the port and then still have enough left over heavily invest in the cocaine trade that would eventually put them at the top of the criminal underworld.

So what made the Colombians want to export their cocaine to Calabria and not Sicily or Naples?

Thats not completely true the Sicilians also have ties to the Colombians, but the Mafia had many problems under Riina so the colombians and calabrians took the opportunity.

They don't supple 80% of the cocaine in Europe. Nowhere near that. More cocaine enters Europe from northern Spain.

The Calabrians were always "proper criminals" in terms of structure etc., but they never made the big money until they got involved in narcotics. I don't think their money from kidnapping funded the port, I think it went into buying cocaine from South America.

Where does the 80% number come from? It comes up quite often in every article and the statistic is often backed by law enforcement.

So the Calabrese took the opportunity to swoop in while Riina and the Sicilians were having trouble? How come the Casalesi clan didn’t have the foresight that the Ndrangheta did? They were very smart and organized. Unlike a lot of Camorra clans who were more like streets gangs.

The port of Gioia Tauro wasnt buil with ndrangheta money but it control the port. The ndrangheta as I write focused on large scale drug trafficking after made enormous money with kidnappings and replaced the sicilians that was weaked by the State reaction after Riina bombing strategy in 1992-1993.
For sure the Spain is where many European criminals go ti buy the coke butenti the ndrangheta control most (maybe not 80%) of the drug trade in Europe because had ndrine in every european contries that are an incredibile brt of distribution.

The Casalesi were not interested in drug trafficking in a big way like the calabrians are, they focused on construction, waste management, distribution etc.. keeping a lower profile than clans that focus on drug dealing.

It is impossible and silly to say they Calabrians "control most" of the drug trade in Europe. Most marijuana comes from places like Albania or Greece. Hash from Morocco. Heroin has a massive Turkish, Kurdish, Balkan involvement. Meth/ecstasy, Holland and Eastern Europe. Spanish, Arab, French, Dutch, Balkan etc OC is involved in cocaine.

Spain, France, the UK have A LOT of drug users, and does anyone honestly think Calabrians supply "most" of it?

Italian OC is overhyped. The second biggest Italian crime family in the USA just had their boss murdered - by a nobody - and ppl are talking about no retribution because of OC. Italian OC today has a lot of myths and history associated with it.

I think the kidnapping money funded the contruction companies, that allowed them to reap the benefits of the Colombo package, that gave them control of the port, and THAT gave them a foothold in cocaine...... I think.....


https://youtu.be/3HxyqUDq2pI

Also, I really think thier ascendancy started with this key bust....



Meanwhile, Caruana organised a network that smuggled eleven metric tonnes of cocaine to Italy from 1991-94. Caruana brought together the cocaine producers of the Colombian Cartels with the Italian distributors, six 'Ndrangheta families from Calabria. At the time the Cuntrera-Caruana family was labeled as "the fly-wheel of the drug trade and the indispensable link between suppliers and distributors."[2]

The investigation, code-named Operation Cartagine, started when the police seized 5,497 kilos of cocaine (a European record at the time) in March 1994 in Turin. A year later the Turin Prosecutors Office presented the indictment. The operation neutralized the most important supply-line of narcotics to Europe, investigators claim


A series of botched shipments, plus Riina going to war with the state, and that big DEA bust on Domenico Mannino, and the sicilians.....

And yet still, I dont think they were dominant until both the Secondigliano Alliance, and the DiLauro clans went to war....

The American mafia from many years wasnt italian and the ndrangheta had ndrine in every part of Europa that sell drugs because had a direct line with the south american productors,fo this is said that control almost the 80% of european drug trade.

Don't forget the Calabrian diaspora has significant populations in Brazil, United States, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Peru, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

@Spartan, In America I agree. They are simply not nearly as powerful and wealthy as they once were. I don’t think the bosses from the 40-50s era and maybe prior would have predicted that the American mafia would fall so badly. Some of the early dons like Costello actually wanted to go legit eventually(Like Michael Corleone in Godfather 3). Money is still being made but I do believe it is true when authorities say that the days when the American Mafia truly ruled with an iron first are gone. In Italy, it appears to be the opposite. All 3 major OC groups are still reaping benefits of the drug trade among other rackets. The power and wealth of the ndrangheta is no longer a secret with all of the reported drug and asset seizures.

@Furio, so 80% might be too high but you would say it’s probably close? Either way that’s a lot of money being made.