The direct line to the narcos of Brazil: this is how the Sicilian mafia tries to undermine the primacy of the 'ndrangheta in drug trafficking
Cosa Nostra is trying to return to being the first criminal power in Italy. For decades, in fact, it has been ousted from the mafia primacy by the 'ndrangheta. The secret of Calabrian organized crime is to have coffers full of billions in drug revenue. The Sicilian bosses, therefore, are trying to compete with their Calabrian "colleagues" - to whom up to now they have paid millions of euros to supply themselves with cocaine - to find direct contacts with the South American drug cartels.
And to oust the 'ndrine, the island's mafiosi may have sought new drug routes, different from those already explored and known. One of these is the one "intercepted" by investigators from the Catania Guardia di Finanza's Gico that connects Brazil to the Mediterranean. Over five quintals of pure cocaine were seized by the military during an operation in the stretch of water between Catania and Ragusa. The military boarded a fishing boat from the Syracuse navy as soon as it brought on board the floating packages abandoned by a cargo ship. Which, according to a series of clues, had left from a Brazilian port several days ago. The Sicilian mafia would naturally have received a part of the "drug booty". The rest would have been sold by the broker - perhaps even a member of Cosa Nostra - who was waiting for the load all over Europe.
The broker
Identifying the broker who had hired the fishermen for the transport and was supposed to receive the cocaine load on Tuesday is now the investigators' priority. The Syracusan fishermen would be simple laborers. Paid by the “token” for the delicate work of recovering the floating packages. It is the most exposed moment of the entire operation, the most risky. And for this reason the profit had to be equated with the risk of ending up behind bars. As it ultimately happened.
The criminal chain was interrupted thanks to the ability of the financiers to anticipate the steps of the drug "ferrymen". The economic loss for the South American cartel was huge. The news of the seizure will have already reached overseas. But when these things happen, communications are prohibited, a wrong move can open a gap to defeat the narcos. In the meantime, the investigators have 100 million euros of cocaine in their hands.
The buyers will be impatient. But even with them there is silence at the moment. And it is in this chain that the mafias could insert themselves: Cosa Nostra and Camorra. Because the 'ndrangheta might not be involved, the Calabrian clans have their direct channels with the cocaine producing countries. And it would be inexplicable why drugs destined for the 'ndrine should end up in the hands of Sicilian fishermen.
Ever closer
Narcos and Cosa Nostra therefore seem to be getting closer and closer. And without intermediaries. A criminal scenario already anticipated last year in the columns of La Sicilia. But which the Palermo prosecutor, Maurizio de Lucia, also spoke about after a record seizure - five tons of cocaine - which took place in July 2023 off the coast of Agrigento aboard a fishing boat that left from Calabria with a crew also made up of Sicilians. The drugs had been brought out to sea on that occasion by the mother ship flying the flag of Palau. The investigators said that they had stolen 850 million euros of illicit profits from the mafia. Nothing like the Financial Act.
But a few months earlier, the same financial police of the Gico of Catania had made another record seizure. That time, however, no boats, but only the waterproof packages that were floating in the waves off the coast of Sicily. When the financial police finished weighing the packages, the scales read 2 tons. The system is called 'drop off': the merchant ship abandons the cargo at sea, a fishing boat picks it up and takes it to its destination. To avoid the many seizures, the narcos would have added the "airborne" control. Perhaps a few days ago something went wrong.
