A man police link to the Montreal mafia, Michele Annunziata, is currently being held in a prison in Italy following his arrest for allegedly importing more than a ton of marijuana into that country.
A discreet clan According to police intelligence and our sources, the Annunziata clan is very discreet, but has been present for decades in Montreal, and operates in isolation.
Its headquarters is a café located on Boulevard Robert in Saint-Léonard which was also the stronghold of Agostino Cuntrera, an associate of the Rizzuto clan assassinated during the putsch attempted against the Sicilians in 2010-2011.
In the early 2000s, the Annunziata clan was considered by police to be one of six Montreal mafia families that reported to Cuntrera.
According to police and criminal sources, Michele Annunziata is close to Salvatore Cazzetta, members of the Hells Angels of the South section.
Looks like the Port still plays a big role in global trafficking.
The investigation also made it possible to intercept, in April 2023, over a ton of marijuana hidden in a container that left Canada, specifically from Montreal.
The 'Ndrangheta also financed the transnational gang of drug traffickers who imported drugs from South America: this emerges from the ROS investigation which today made it possible to defeat a mafia-type criminal association with 15 precautionary measures issued by the investigating judge at the request of the Salerno Prosecutor's Office (coordinated by the prosecutor Giuseppe Borrelli ). In particular, through one of their men, the Neapolitan Errico D'Ambrosio , it was the Alvaro criminal family, the brothers Nicola and Francesco Alvaro , who shelled out large sums of money to import and purchase the narcotic substance. According to the investigators, Franco Volpe and Cataldo Esposito coordinated the operations , together with other suspects who were currently untraceable. The intermediation was instead entrusted to Carmine Ferrara , his close collaborator Salvatore Rocco and the Calabrian Fortunato Marafioti . The investigation also made it possible to intercept, in April 2023, over a ton of marijuana hidden in a container that left Canada, specifically from Montreal. Also in this circumstance the drugs landed in the port of Salerno, thanks to an import-export company from Poggiomarino (Naples) of which a man from Boscoreale (Naples), Antonio Malafronte , was found to be co-owner . In this affair, the magistrates say, an Italian-American, Michele Annunziata , was also involved : according to the ROS, he was the one who organized the transfer of the huge load of marijuana, financed in part by a Neapolitan, Giuseppe Gargiulo . Franco Volpe and one of the wanted suspects were responsible for recovering the narcotic - according to the investigators - in exchange for a sum of money. The so-called minor crimes - theft, receiving stolen goods and threats - committed in Cilento, are contested by the investigators against Franco Volpe and another suspect: Volpe, in particular, also had the task of identifying the targets and providing logistical support to a group of thieves from Puglia, his accomplices, including Michele Campanale .
