Australian authorities suspect that the Calabrian Mafia also known as the Ndrangheta are behind recent violent attacks on pizzerias in Melbourne. The attacks are part of an extortion scheme targeting local food wholesalers, restaurants, and even supermarkets. Known to its members in Australia as the L’Onorata Societa the criminal organization has established powerful connections across the country. The Calabrian Mafia has grown to become the most powerful Mafia organization in Italy and continues to expand its reach into other countries such as Canada,Australia, and even the United States among others. Control of the European drug trade has allowed them to generate obscene profits and grow their criminal organization.
They have even shown up in countries like Germany bringing with them violence and treachery often associated with the Mafia. Back in 2007 in Duisburg, Germany six members of the Pelle-Votari clan of the Ndrangheta was gunned down by rival mobsters from the Nirta-Strangio clan in from of a local pizzeria. Just after the incident in Germany a Ndrangheta deserter named Giorgio Basile told Italian authorities that the Germans must realize that where there is pizza there is the Mafia. This statement may be proven to be more and more accurate after the recent incidents surrounding the pizzerias in Australia.
The FBI along with Italian authorities recently busted a drug smuggling scheme between the Ndrangheta and the New York Mafia that was shipping cocaine into the United States from Canada. Canadian and Italian authorities also believe the Calabrian Mafia backed a break away faction from the Rizzuto crime family in Montreal leading to a bloody turf war for control of that cities lucrative drug rackets. Seems that the Ndrangheta are willing and able to work with just about any criminal organization any where in the world if there is a profit to be made making them more dangerous then many of their counter parts.
