Cocaine, crack, weed: the "narcos" of Catania and the turnover in Sicily

CATANIA – It was January 11, 2019. An investigation by the Carabinieri, which resulted in the "Shooting Star" operation , led to dozens of arrests and drug seizures. It all started from San Cristoforo. That operation made clear a phenomenon that investigators had been studying for some time: a Catania model existed.

A drug trafficking operation of elephantine dimensions. Here, the Santapaola-Ercolano and Cappello-Bonaccorsi clans have in fact created a system not dissimilar to the Camorra organisation: the basis of everything is the drug dealing squares. A system of lookouts, retail sales, two-way radios and supply control. All under mafia control. As well as "exports" to other provinces.

A structured management, it was said at the time, capable of earning even 11 thousand euros a day. And the factual situation has never changed. Indeed, that model has also become routine in other places on the island. With a common denominator: suppliers. Almost all, almost always, from Catania.

Management in the province

Two years ago the carabinieri broke up a drug trafficking organization. From a bar in Aci Bonaccorsi, it emerged, they supplied various centers in the province, from Etna to the coastal towns. They called it Operation Tiffany. Cocaine and marijuana departed from Aci Bonaccorsi.

The control of supplies reached areas very far from Catania. Last year, in May, the Trapani carabinieri discovered a cocaine ring imported to Marsala through rental cars. Here too a flurry of arrests took place. It was named Operation Fox. The cocaine came straight from Catania.

In the heart of the island

In the Ennese area, dozens of operations conducted by the Flying Squad, by the police stations, by the Carabinieri companies and by the operational department of the Carabinieri, have always revealed the same data: the supplies always come from Catania. From Barrafranca to Agira , the most active centres, then Catenanuova, Leonforte and Pietraperzia .

Small pushers buy in Catania. They buy from the Cappello clan or the Santapaola family. A month ago the ROS carabinieri defeated a gang of drug dealers in Barrafranca (Operation Albana). There were worrying international entanglements in Germany. And there was the traditional Catania point of reference, in this case the Cosa Nostra clan of Ognina.

Further back in time, just think of the drug trafficking organized from Catania and managed by the Barrafranca and Pietraperzia clans between 2018 and 2021 , in the period in which the Santapaolas, in fact, ousted the old provincial boss of Cosa Nostra to put in its place are more "awakened" people, more practical, above all, with drugs.

From San Cristoforo to Agira

In Enna, Agira has always been a hub for drug trafficking. And even in this city, where gangs of drug dealers have been caught repeatedly over the years , the suppliers are from Catania. Those who buy in Catania, in Librino or in San Cristoforo, or at Zia Lisa , are generally "small" couriers with vehicles.

Then there is the case of Catenanuova, where the management of extortion and drug trafficking changed hands, from Cosa Nostra to the Cappello clan, with a river of blood. A massacre was committed in 2008 , and a crime in 2012. The murderers, in both cases, came to Catania .

In Caltanissetta, in December 2022, 9 crack, hashish and marijuana dealers were arrested. It's one of many similar episodes in these parts. And it turned out that the pushers were buying the drugs in Palermo, Enna (Barrafranca) and Catania. Then they distributed it in the streets of the capital of Nisseno.

The competition of the 'Ndrangheta

In February 2021 in Catania, the feared competition of the 'ndrangheta and the potential business in the Catania area also caused a crime. A pusher, Vincenzo Timonieri, was killed because he wanted to manage his own trafficking , in defiance of the Nizza clan, with his suppliers from the 'Ndrangheta. They buried his body in a dune in Vaccarizzo.

In other cases, Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta have actually collaborated. On March 3 last year, the Messina Police Headquarters flying squad arrested 15 people for drug trafficking and criminal association. There were three supply channels in the Strait City. Two in Calabria , where the Port of Gioia Tauro is traditionally considered the "international drug port", in the hands of the 'Ndrangheta. The third, very solid, in Catania .

In 2020 in Syracuse the carabinieri arrested 12 people. They sold cocaine, marijuana and hashish. They had purchased it in Catania, Palermo and Calabria . Here too the 'Ndrangheta was one of the channels, but there was no shortage of interactions with the Catania mafia.