U.S. Busts Mexican Drug Ring With Appetite for Strong Euro
By Steve SchererSept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. authorities made nationwide arrests against a drug trafficking ring led by the so-called Gulf Cartel, including alleged mafia members in New York who shipped cocaine to Italy seeking euros instead of dollars.
About 175 people were arrested and charged with drug trafficking and money laundering, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said today at an Atlanta press conference. Overall, the operation, dubbed Project Reckoning, has resulted in more than 500 arrests, the seizure of more than 16 tons of cocaine and $60 million, Mukasey said.
``These arrests are a substantial blow to the Gulf Cartel,'' Mukasey said, according to the text of his remarks. The Drug Enforcement Agency led the operation in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies including Italy's Carabinieri police.
The Mexican Gulf Cartel is currently considered to be the world's biggest cocaine syndicate, Italy's chief mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso said in an interview. The group had set up a distribution network in the U.S. and Europe -- in particular in Italy, Spain and Holland -- that includes as many as 1,400 individuals, according to Italian police.
The international breadth of modern crime was demonstrated by the involvement of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia, which imported cocaine through its members in New York, who in turn received their shipments from Mexico, Grasso said.
The European cocaine market is even more attractive than the American one because of robust demand and a strong euro, said Russell Benson, the regional director of the DEA in Europe and Africa. The euro has gained 16 percent against the dollar in the past three years and one euro today buys more than $1.40.
Euro vs Dollar
``Central and South American drug organizations are getting much higher profit per kilo of cocaine in Europe as a result of the euro's strength against the dollar,'' Benson said in an interview in Rome.
Italian police seized a 3.5-kilo sample cocaine shipment buried in the countryside near the town of Gioiosa Jonica, which is located on the toe of Italy's boot-shaped peninsula, Grasso said. Ten suspects were arrested in Italy today, and two Italian-born suspected mafia members were among those arrested in New York, police said.
``The Mexican cartel is currently the dominant force in cocaine trafficking,'' Grasso said. ``And the 'Ndrangheta is directly linked to them and is the main supplier of cocaine in Italy.''
No.1 on List
The U.S. Justice Department said in May that the 'Ndrangheta was at the top of its list of dangerous criminal organizations and drug traffickers. The business conducted by the 131 different 'Ndrangheta clans operating in Calabria is worth 44 billion euros ($62.6 billion) annually, Rome-based research group Eurispes said in May.
There is evidence that ties between Italy's mafias and its U.S. cousins have been renewed and reinforced in recent years. Italian authorities arrested almost 80 people in the biggest trans-Atlantic mafia crackdown in 20 years in February as part of an effort to cut renewed ties between New York's Gambino crime family and Sicily's Cosa Nostra.
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