All Blog Posts Tagged 'Ndrangheta' (61)

By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

Bonanno crime family associate Salvatore Russo is considered trustworthy by his peers in the…

Intro written by Angelo Carmelo Gallitto



The Calabrian “Honoured Society”, well known as “’Ndrangheta”, is the equivalent of Sicilian Mafia in Calabria region, south Italy. However its origin is unknown, it emerged later than other Italian organizations, maybe because Calabria was more isolated than others even inside south eastern…

By Andrew Machin

On June 2, 2015, with the arrest of 19 people, the two year-long code-named Project OPhoenix closed. The Project, conducted by the Combined Special Forces Enforcement Unit for the Great Toronto Area (GTA), significantly hit, resuming the words, during its presentation, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police…

By David Amoruso

Alleged New York Mafia associate Paul Ragusa was sentenced to 6 years in prison on Tuesday for possessing nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and a silencer. 48-year-old Ragusa was busted in Operation OTremens, a joint investigation which unearthed a partnership between Mafia families…

By David Amoruso

Two priests in Calabria, Italy, were charged today by anti-Mafia prosecutors with using the ‘Ndrangheta to threaten a man to pay back his debt. Graziano Maccarone and Nicola De Luca pledged their loyalty to God, but apparently feel he isn’t as all powerful as is claimed.

In order to get a debtor to…

By David Amoruso

A Sicilian Mafioso, who in the 1990s decided to testify against his Cosa Nostra colleagues, was shot to death on Tuesday evening in a parking lot in Chiavari, a city in Northern Italy. 70-year-old Pino Orazio was allegedly killed by a bullet to the neck fired from close range.

Orazio was known to…

By David Amoruso

As far as powerful Mafia bosses go, Giuseppe Ursino (photo above) is as low-key as they come. So much so that when he was convicted of trafficking cocaine for the ‘Ndrangheta and sentenced to over a decade in prison Thursday, it was the first criminal conviction of his life.

“Pino” Ursino was born…

By David Amoruso

Alleged ‘Ndrangheta boss Gabriele “El Italiano” Biondo made an initial appearance in federal court in Boston on Thursday in connection with a 1,500-kilo cocaine shipment. Biondo is an Italian national who was extradited to the United States from Spain. He is alleged to have been in close contact with…

By David Amoruso

The murdered brother of a Calabrian Mafia turncoat had asked to be released from the government’s witness protection program. 51-year-old Marcello Bruzzese was shot dead on Christmas Day last year, when he arrived at his home in the historical center of Pesaro.

The killing had all the indications of…

By David Amoruso

A domestic dispute? It’s not the first thing one thinks of when a reputed Mafia boss is shot dead in his home. Still, that’s what happened to 87-year-old Toronto mob leader Rocco Zito (photo above) on January 29, 2016. His son-in-law, Domenico Scopelliti, was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison for…

By David Amoruso

He had disappeared in 2016. Like so many of his colleagues, Calabrian Mafia boss Giuseppe “Peppe” Pelle chose to live the life of a fugitive rather than spend it behind bars. From his hideaway in the Calabrian mountains he oversaw a large network which controlled regional politics.

The mountainous…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Mobster Massimigliano Carfagna was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine and the opioid drug…

By David Amoruso

It’s an interesting debate: Do you grant a convicted murderer the right to say goodbye to a dying loved one, even though the convict…

By David Amoruso

The power of the ‘Ndrangheta, Calabria’s Mafia, seems to have no limits. Authorities in Italy have arrested around 170 people, including two mayors, in Italy and Germany in a largescale operation aimed at the Farao-Marincola ‘Ndrangheta clan. Assets worth over €50 million euros were also seized. “We have…

By David Amoruso

“Always the dollars. Always the fuckin' dollars.” – Nicky Santoro, movie Casino

Authorities in the United States and Canada arrested a total of thirteen alleged members of the Mafia yesterday for their involvement in a largescale drug trafficking pipeline spanning both countries. Among those arrested are…

By David Amoruso

You can run, but not forever. After spending 23 years as a most wanted fugitive Rocco Morabito was arrested at a hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Sunday. The 50-year-old Calabrian Mafia boss had been living in a luxurious…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

The Italian Senate approved an extension of the country’s Antimafia bill on Thursday, news agency ANSA reports. The bill is used to confiscate the assets of convicted Mafiosi, people convicted of bribery and corruption, and also of stalking and…

As the sixth largest country in the world, Australia has a lot of room for people who are looking for new territory to commit crimes. Discovered by Dutch explorers, Australia eventually fell under British rule. The British used the far-away continent as an isolated prison in the sun after they lost control of the United States. Britain sent its most hated inmates to…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

The mayor of Bova Marina, a village in Reggio Calabria, was arrested today in a police operation against the Calabrian Mafia’s involvement in the area’s garbage hauling industry, Italian news agency ANSA reported. Mayor…

By David Amoruso

Marcello Pesce, one of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta’s most powerful bosses, was arrested in a dawn raid on Thursday. He had been on the run since 2010 and, in absentia, had been convicted of Mafia crimes. He can now begin serving his prison sentence of almost 17 years.

Like so many of his colleagues, …