Francesco Palmieri a high ranking member of the Gambino crime family of the New York Mafia was one of eight suspected mobsters rounded up in a transatlantic mob sweep. Authorities in Italy and America on Thursday targeted members of organized crime for suspicions of multiple mafia crimes. Along with Palmieri in New York also arrested of note was Italian mobster Giovanni “Johnny” Grillo picked up at a Milan airport.
Palmieri was allegedly traveling to Italy under a fake name for months demanding payment of a 30 year old credit from an Italian businessman. The debt dating back to the 1980’s is believed to be part of an International drug trafficking network connected to former Bonanno family mobster Cesare Bonventre. Both Palmieri and Bonventre are from same small Sicilian town although Bonventre was killed back in 1984 during a internal power struggle with in the Bonanno family.
Earlier this year authorities busted up a drug ring involving dozens of mobsters on both sides of the Atlantic including members of the Italian mob clan the Ndrangheta and the Gambino family.
