Gambino, Bonanno family mobsters arrested in connection to Italian Mafia: FBI The cocaine would sleep with the fishes. The feds have broken up the marriage of a dreaded Italian crime syndicate and the U.S. Gambino crime family that schemed to smuggle cocaine stashed inside frozen fish across the Atlantic Ocean. Eight reputed mobsters with ties to the Gambino and Bonanno crime families were arrested early Tuesday in New York by the FBI, while in a coordinated raid in Italy police rounded up 17 members of the Calabria-based ’Ndrangheta crime organization. “We feel we have put an end to ’Ndrangheta’s attempt to gain a foothold in the New York area,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. Officials described Gambino associate Franco Lupoi, 44, as the linchpin of the unholy alliance with ’Ndrangheta through his father-in-law, Nicola Antonio Simonetta, and a cousin, Francesco Ursino. Both are members of the group that in recent years has eclipsed the Sicilian Mafia and Neapolitan Camorra in influence and wealth. Simonetta and Ursino were among those busted in Italy. Lupoi, a co-owner of the Royal Crown Bakery in Bensonhurst, hatched a global drug-trafficking scheme with Alexander Chan, 46, and Jose Alfredo (Freddy) Garcia, 47, that originated in Brooklyn and stretched its tentacles to South America and the boot of Italy, according to court papers. During a two-year joint investigation by the FBI and Italian police, Lupoi proposed to an undercover agent that he had assembled an ethnically diverse crew — “a Chinese guy, a Greek guy and a Mexican with the cartels” — put together to ship cocaine hidden inside frozen fish from Guyana to Calabria. The ’Ndrangheta crew had taken control of a fish wholesaler in the Italian port city of Gioia Tauro to receive the illicit seafood and also had a corrupt customs official in its pocket to guarantee passage. “It takes a day to defrost and then it takes a day to thaw out,” Lupoi said of the fishy business. The undercover agent recorded the three discussing their connections to Mexican drug cartels and their plot to move 500 kilograms of cocaine in frozen fish. They abandoned the fish plan in late 2012 and then plotted to stash the coke inside pineapples, but that idea fell by the wayside, too. The undercover purchased smaller quantities of cocaine and heroin from Lupoi in Brooklyn and in Italy. Co-defendant Raffaele (Lello) Valente, 42, a reputed ’Ndrangheta member, is charged with selling a gun with a silencer to the undercover for $5,000 in Lupoi’s bakery. Christos Fasarakis, 42, a manager at a Brooklyn bank; Dominic Ali, 55; Anthony Drossos, 40; and reputed Bonanno associate Charles (Charlie Pepsi) Centaro, 50, were charged with money laundering. Federal prosecutors said Lupoi is “associated” with Gambino underboss Frank Cali and capo Pietro (Tall Pete) Inzerillo, but they were not charged. FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said that mob associates do not usually carry out rogue operations of this magnitude and that the Gambino hierarchy “probably knew, but that’s part of the ongoing investigation.” All defendants pleaded not guilty to the 15-count indictment in Brooklyn Federal Court. If convicted, Lupoi, Chan and Garcia — charged with narcotics trafficking — face sentences of life in prison. Ali, Centaro, Drossos and Gasarakis could be sentenced to up to more than 20 years in prison, and Valente faces 10 years. The Gambino and Bonanno families have long-established ties to the Sicilian Maia, but organized crime experts have said that the ‘Ndrangheta syndicate in recent years has eclipsed the Sicilians and Neapolitan Camorra in power and wealth. Much of the crime group’s illicit money is derived from drug trafficking. The term ’Ndrangheta is derived from the Italian term for “little cells” and swears allegiance to patron saint St. Michael the Archangel. The five New York Mafia families claim to abide by a rule prohibiting rackets involving illegal narcotics, but the rule has been violated time and again. Pope Francis himself addressed the syndicates brutality just two weeks ago,when he urged the men behind a brutal execution-style hit that left three dead - including a 3-year-old boy - to come forward and repent. The Ndrangehta is widely suspected to be behind that particular instance of brutality.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 02:10:00 +0000
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