Ndrangheta

There is another organized group from Sicily that has gone virtually unnoticed for years because of the rural area that spawned them.  They are the Ndrangheta or Honor Society and they are made up of approximately 100 families in and around Calabria.  They are now the largest organized crime group in the world with around 5,000 members worldwide.  Their structure is very close to the Cosa Nostra but most members of the families are related by blood and in some villages all the men belong to the Ndrangheta.  They are huge money makers by any standards because they pull in around 44 billion Euros a year or roughly 3% of Italy's GDP.  Over 60% of their cash comes from drugs.

Many years ago men from the Ndrangheta immigrated to far flung corners of the globe and with them they brought the Ndrangheta. They developed contacts in place like Columbia where they got close to the cocaine traffickers.  A lot of people think the Mexican cartels are in charge of cocaine trafficking but what they really are is the middle men.  The large Colombian traffickers from Medellin and California saw their empires and their freedom taken away because they imported cocaine into the US. So they found willing and able partners in Mexico.  The Ndrangheta formed a coalition with the Colombian traffickers and now they are the biggest cocaine importer to Europe.  They surpassed the American and Sicilian Mafia in that area.  They do work closely with the Mafia and in fact I’ve written about them before. They also move a lot of heroin.

They have operated for a long time in the US but have remained unknown.  They have been here for 100 years going way back to extortion plots in rural areas where Italians worked.  They had a long time member Vincenzo Coluccio in Los Angeles who was just deported on August 27 by Immigration and Customs. He was picked up by the DEA in 2010 for possession of methamphetamine, cocaine and a pistol. The Italian government wanted him back where he is wanted for drug trafficking.  They claim he is a high ranking member of Mazzaferro Crime Family based in Calabria. He was in charge of exporting the cocaine from Los Angeles using a courier system as well other methods to move large amounts overseas. They would have couriers pick up small carry on bags with compartments to carry the cocaine and they would book their travel from Los Angeles to all over the Mediterranean.  All these trips were book through Mirage Travel Agency which was owned by a Greek Italian.  Rocco Coluccio, an Italian American, was the long time head of the clan in Los Angeles until he was killed in a car accident and that is what brought Vincenzo Coluccio to the forefront. There was a coffee distributor in Inglewood, California that never really sold coffee but a few known Italian drug traffickers would stop by and then leave.  There was a similar one in Brooklyn near Henry and Union Streets. I am sure the Feds are keeping an eye on them.

The Ndrangheta controls Organized Crime on the East Coast of Australia since the 1920's.  They had a war in the 1960's over the Victoria Market in Melbourne which moves tens of millions in fruit every year.  They also imported more than 14 million ecstasy pills hidden inside tomato cans from Calabria.  This was the largest bust of pills in 2008.

They are very big in Canada because Canadian banking laws make it easy to launder cash profits.  They are in Spain which they use as a distribution point for Europe.

The Ndrangheta will continue to grow and become a bigger criminal organization as long as there is a war on terror keeping law enforcement busy.

Detroit Mafia - Sicilian Style

The Mafia in Sicily all work together in so called Mandamentos which are comprised of three or more neighboring crime families which are led by a Capomandamento, who is also a member of Provincial Commission.  He is the head of one of the crime families and he will usually be elected by the other bosses who he represents on the Provincial Commission.  The Provincial Boss of Palermo is always the Capo Dei Capi or Boss of Bosses because almost half the members are from the Palermo Province and it is historically the most powerful.

The Cinisi Mandamento controls the North Western Palermo Provence in Italy and is made up of three crime families: The Terrasini, Cinisi and Villagrazia Di Carini Crime families.

When people think of Detroit they think of the automobile industry or possibly the murder capitol of the US.  The truth is that the Mafia is alive and well in Detroit today and Detroit is considered one of the most active Mafia Families in the US behind New York and Chicago. Known as the Detroit Partnership, Detroit Combination or the Zerilli Crime Family they continue to make the most of the dying city and its suburbs.

The Detroit area has seen an influx of Italian immigrants over the years with an estimated 275,000 now living there.  A large number of these are from Sicily and some of these came from Terrasini.  There are two brothers who came to Shelby Township from Terrasini named Giuseppe D'Anna, aka "Joe,", and Girolamo D'Anna, aka "Mimmo.”  They have been charged by the Feds for violations of the Hobbs Act.  When I first heard about these brothers and this case I was surprised that the Feds would go after a case like theirs.  

They had Tiramisu Italian Ristorante, and in 2009 a man named Pietro Ventimiglia opened a restaurant across the street from their restaurant.  Pietro called it Nonna's Kitchen and as soon as he opened it the Brothers D'Anna paid him a visit.  They were upset that Pietro had opened it without asking their permission because he is also from Terrasini.  They then kept harassing him making threats and trying to shake him down.  They asked Pietro if he had consulted his father in Sicily about opening the restaurant, the Feds claim that was a threat because the brothers have close ties to the Sicilian Mafia in Terrasini.

Joe and Mimmo’s Uncle Anthony was with the Detroit Partnership when they arrived in Detroit in the 1990's but he has since died.  Their father Calagero was deported from the United States in the late 1970's.  The brothers have connections with Detroit and even deeper connections with the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in their home town of Terrasini.  Their cousin Salvatore D'Anna is the boss of the Terrasini Crime Family.  

The Salvatore D'Anna Crime Family is involved in a host of racketeering crimes, including extortion (involving the family’s demanding payment of street “taxes,” or extortion and protection payments, from legitimate businesses), assaults, narcotics trafficking and murder.

The D'Anna brothers decided on April 28, 2011 that they were going to deal with Pietro themselves and they went to his restaurant while he was expanding it.  Mimmo went to the restaurant first and confronted Pietro as to why he was expanding his business in direct competition to theirs.  Mimmo then asked him if he was alone and when he answered yes he kept him distracted while his brother Joe ran in with a baseball bat and started wailing away. Joe struck him eleven or more times in the head and back, he then told him he would solve the problem by killing him, his family, and his family in Sicily.  They left the restaurant and Pietro, who called 911 as soon as they left, and had them arrested.  

They were charged with attempted murder but were able to plead no contest to lesser charges of assault and had to serve two months in jail and 3 more on house arrest.

So they served their time and the Feds came in and now they are charging them under the Hobbs Act.  It could be because those close to the Detriot Partnership have gotten a lot of lenient sentences in the past and this caused a stir in the justice department.  It could also be that the FBI, which works closely with Italian authorities via a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) is closely watching the New Cosa Nostra.  

The FBI has cut down all their LCN (La Cosa Nostra) Squads to go after terrorists and other problems.  The problem is that all the Cosa Nostra guys fit into society, they are business owners that dress nice.  So they fly under the radar until they stay out of the spotlight and quietly rebuild the families.

The Mafia is far from over.  It is simply going back into its roots as a secret crime organization.

The Detroit Partnership is believed to have 50 made men on the streets, so this is a real crime family that can and will rebuild.