Calabrian mafia members were targeted in both the United Stats and Italy in a joint operation taking down a illegal drug ring. FBI agents along with Italian police arrested 15 suspected members of the Calabrian mafia also known as the Ndrangheta for alleged roles in the multi million dollar cocaine ring. According to reports cocaine was being smuggled from Central America to New York where it was then distributed.
Gregorio Gigliotti the alleged leader of the mafia drug ring was arrested along with his wife and son last march. Sources confirm the family was believed to be using their Queens based Pizzeria named “Cucino A Modo Mio” and Bronx based produce warehouse as distribution points. The Calabrian born Gigliotti was also described by authorities as an associate of the Genovese crime family of the New York Mafia.
This recent operation follows one done last February which linked the Ndrangheta to the Gambino crime family in New York in another joint drug smuggling ring. FBI and Italian authorities claim these operations prove that the Ndrangheta have replaced the Sicilian mafia as the main drug partners for the American Mafia families.
The Ndrangheta according to Italian authorities control Italy’s southern Calabria region and the European drug trade and have begun to entrench themselves in other countries including the United States and Canada as they grow in power and influence. They are believed to have backed a break away group in Canada in an attempt to take down the powerful Sicilian mafia based Rizzuto crime family leading to a long and bloody Montreal mafia war.
