Multiple New York Suspects Arrested In US-Italy Mafia Drug Case
Seven people in New York have been arrested by the FBI as a part of an organized-crime investigation into cocaine and heroin trafficking from southern Italy to the United States. According to ABC 7 New York, two dozen people have been arrested in both the US and in Italy.
ABC 7 New York reported that two dozen suspected drug traffickers linked to the Gambino and Bonanno crime families and the Italian crime syndicate known as ‘Ndrangheta were arrested during a coordinated American-Italian operation that authorities said disrupted the multi-continent drug pipeline.
Major mafia round-up this morning in New York and Italy. Details to follow.
— FBI New York (@NewYorkFBI) February 11, 2014
According to CBS New York, 17 suspected members and associates of the ‘Ndrangheta were arrested in Calabria, Italy. The other seven suspects were reportedly arrested in New York City.
“American and Italian officers executed two dozen arrests, conducted numerous lawful searches and made seizures of hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars,” U.S. prosecutor Marshall Miller said. “The ‘Ndrangheta aimed to move deadly narcotics across international boundaries attempting to build a bridge of criminality and corruption to stretch from South America to Italy and back to New York.”
According to NBC New York, an undercover agent befriended one of the suspects arrested in New York City, and US prosecutors say that his individual was the center of the operation. The undercover agent was later able to gain the trust of of both the Gambino family and ‘Ndrangheta and that’s when the case got serious.
ABC News continued on to say that the individual who became the center of the operation was identified as Gambino associate Franco Lupoi, of Brooklyn, New York. Police say the undercover agent recorded Lupoi plotting to transport 500 kilograms of cocaine hidden in shipments of frozen fish or pinapples. “Prosecutors found $7 million worth of cocaine hidden in crates pineapples and coconut milk.” Court documents which contained the undercover officer’s notes quoted Lupoi saying that “”They put a hundred grams, two hundred grams in each fish. It takes a day to defrost and then it takes a day to take out.”
Reports state that this operation has taken over two years to result in any arrests. Police reported finding not only cocaine, marijuana and heroin, during their raids, but also hundreds of thousands of dollars.
William Nardini, a U.S. magistrate, said that they couldn’t have called these international raids a success without the help of Italy and the Italian law enforcement. “This was a joint operation. With no other country is our cooperation so strong.”
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