https://livesicilia.it/cocaina-ruolo-ndrangheta-narcotraffico-catania/Cocaine, the role of the 'ndrangheta in drug trafficking in Catania
CATANIA – Tons of cocaine, controlled by the Calabrians and distributed by the Catanese : this is how the pattern of drug trafficking in the Catania area can be summed up, especially for cocaine. The powder, manufactured mainly in South America, is an absolute monopoly of the Calabrians, who have the contacts and means to import it throughout Italy.
In the Catania area, cocaine arrives in two ways : by sea, in large shipments that then head towards Calabria and from there throughout Italy; and by land, from Calabria to Catania and from there to the rest of Sicily, for retail sale and arrival in the various drug dealing areas.
In the middle is a network of couriers, wholesalers, brokers who do business with both drug trafficking groups and mafia clans . The only fixed point: the rules are set by the Calabrian 'ndrine, who have the monopoly.
Seizures at the port of Catania
The latest operation in chronological order that revealed the contact between Calabrian drug traffickers and the Catania underworld is the one that led to 6 people being sent to prison in March 2025, and which revealed the system of entry of cocaine into the port of Catania for at least three large shipments of more than two hundred kilos in total.
The drugs, as stated in the investigation documents , entered the port of Catania using methods very similar to those used by drug traffickers in other Italian ports, hidden between the metal sheets of containers arriving from South America or inside refrigeration units.
According to the revelations of the collaborator of justice Errico D'Ambrosio , previously part of the Calabrian Molè gang, the 'ndrangheta chooses to have large loads of cocaine arrive from South America to Catania to avoid excessive pressure from the police on the port of Gioia Tauro. Still today one of the major terminals of drug trafficking from Ecuador, Bolivia and other major producers and exporters of cocaine.
Contacts with the Catania clans
D'Ambrosio himself, on the occasion of the arrival of a 110-kilo cocaine shipment, was sent to Catania by his Calabrian contacts, Giuseppe Curciarello and Antonio Scarfò, who had organized the shipment. There was a need to get the cocaine out of the port, and D'Ambrosio came into contact with Nino Vasta, of the Cappello clan.
The connection with a wider network of criminal contacts is extensive , all links in the drug trafficking chain. He manages to access the port thanks to the Pillera/Puntina, who control everything that moves in the port. And they ask between 30 and 40 percent of the value of the drug shipments to have them arrive and exit safely. He speaks directly with Angelo and Melino Sanfilippo, who physically take care of extracting the cocaine from a damaged container.
In other cases, the investigation into Angelo Sanfilippo reveals that , even when the Catania clans are not directly involved, the arrival of drugs in Catania is still controlled by the Calabrian 'ndrine.
"Cement"
At least two other operations that saw large seizures of cocaine in Catania feature Calabrian drug traffickers. In these cases, however, Catania is not a port of entry into the national territory but a sorting hub. The cocaine arrives from Calabria and then heads to other Sicilian cities, or to the drug dealing centers in Catania.
This is the case of the “Cemento” operation of December 2024 in which police investigators, keeping an eye on two different associations dedicated to drug trafficking, came across the character of Rocco Rizzo, involved in the supply and distribution of cocaine in Sicily to various criminal groups.
According to reconstructions, Rizzo made daily trips between Reggio Calabria and Catania , with stops in San Giovanni Galermo, Villaggio Sant'Agata, San Giorgio, via Palermo. All supplies to various drug dealers.
According to the investigations, upstream of Rizzo was Manuel Monorchio, accused of being the coordinator of the couriers and above all of maintaining contact with the large suppliers of cocaine.
Again, the Calabrians: according to the wiretaps , in at least one case Monorchio instructs Rizzo to deliver the money from the sale of 3 kilos of cocaine to his “uncle”, a character who remains nameless in the documents but who operates in the Polistena area, in the province of Reggio Calabria.
"Devotion"
In another case, that of the “Devozione” operation of June 2024 , the two Calabrians Bruno Cidoni and Antonio Pezzano moved to Catania to personally manage the cocaine trafficking, which had become very profitable. The two managed the contacts with the Calabrian suppliers, negotiating the prices, and resold to the various criminal groups in Catania.
As can be read in the documents, Cidoni would have had relations with the 'ndrangheta Francesco Pelle , of the 'ndrina Pelle Gambizza of San Luca. Involved in the purchase of drugs, according to the investigators, would have been Pasquale Zagari. He would have been the intermediary who in Calabria delivered the drugs to the couriers and collected the money to pay the suppliers.
For this group, investigators documented more than 20 trips for the supply of cocaine and marijuana between Catania and Calabria, with total seizures of 11 kilos of drugs. Cidoni and Pezzano acted as wholesalers: they sold to all the clans, without entering into rivalries.
Cocaine seizures at sea
Back to the topic of the route from South America , in the last two years several seizures of enormous quantities of cocaine have occurred in the stretch of sea in front of Catania. In September 2024 a blitz by the Guardia di Finanza allowed the seizure of 540 kilos of cocaine on board a fishing boat.
The sailors were recovering the drug blocks from the sea on board . And investigators suspect that in that case the cargo had been left at sea by a merchant ship for later recovery. A technique known as drop off .
The same procedure occurred in the spring of 2023, when two tons of cocaine were found floating in the stretch of sea between Catania and Syracuse. In both cases, the origin of the drugs was attributed by investigators to South America, an area where the Calabrians have a de facto monopoly on contacts. Among the hypotheses circulating in the spring of 2023, in fact, was that the drugs were not destined to stop in Sicily.
The ship and the fishing boat
Another case, although not in the Catania waters, is particularly well-known . In July 2023, the ship Plutus and the fishing vessel Ferdinando D'Aragona were stopped in the Strait of Sicily. On board the fishing vessel was the largest quantity of cocaine ever seized in a single operation in Italy: five tons, worth one billion euros.
According to investigators, the Plutus was the mother ship, which had arrived from South America , and the fishing vessel had recovered the cargo. Its mission was to return it to its home port. Both the Ferdinando D'Aragona and its captain and crew were originally from Bagnara Calabra, where the fishing vessel had set sail.
Six people were arrested in the latest drug trafficking operation in Catania .
