Yet the Lombard mafia system, which emerged with the Hydra operation (154 requests for arrest, but only 11 ordered by the investigating judge), revolved around the figure of Alfonso Giardino, an elderly fixer with a cap , originally from Isola Capo Rizzuto, in the Crotone area . A "new" character in the Lombard-Calabrian criminal panorama, who managed to line up a series of illicit activities from Mauritania, based mainly on the importation of fuel, steel and iron.

Giardino, who died long before the operation began, spoke ten languages ??and had close relations with the authorities of the West African country . Everyone respected him, from the commander of the local police to the customs officials and, as the Sicilian Gioacchino Amico said, one of the arrested men, intercepted on the telephone, could also " call General Aziz" , former prime minister in Saddam Hussein's government, who told him it would have "guaranteed", anonymity, passes and authorizations for their trafficking. Knowledge of languages ??would have helped Giardino to build relationships with foreign criminals and, in particular, with Africans . The friendships served above all to obtain dual citizenship for various exponents of the Lombard mafia system which was made up of the Sicilians Gioacchino Amico, Antonio Galioto, Raimondo Orlando and Pietro Mannino; by the 'ndranghetists Antonio Romeo, Massimo Rosi and Nicodemo Rispoli, "referees" of the Legnano and Lonate Pozzolo premises, an expression of the Cirò gang.

Thanks to his connections with the Mauritanian gendarmerie, Alfonso Giardino had made it clear to Amico and Mannino that it would be possible to obtain residence and passport of that country which would be useful in case of escape for possible arrests, given that in Mauritania, there is no it's extradition. The fee to be paid to obtain the documents was 30 thousand ouguiya, approximately 760 euros. Same amount to rent a house. Alfonsino, as everyone called him, had a kind manner and managed to reassure and bring everyone to agreement . In one of the last intercepted summits, the man had reassured the exponents of the local ndrangheta and the Sicilians that he had even managed to get tons of steel and iron to Russia, starting from Mauritania, with his own ship. He had also established a company in Nouakchott, the country's capital, that dealt with fresh and frozen fish products. And he thought of hiring Raimondo Orlando as commercial director, to cover his possible absconding, escaping arrest by the Milan prosecutor's office.