'Ndrangheta in Argentina: Buenos Aires brokers fall
'Ndrangheta in Argentina: Buenos Aires brokers fall
They were not afraid of being captured because, although affected by the precautionary custody order issued in Italy since last November, they counted on the usually poor international cooperation between police forces and judiciary, and as the months passed they were now certain that the Argentine authorities would never have them.
Thus the three men who were captured in Buenos Aires on 21 July at the request of the Anti-Mafia District Directorate of Reggio Calabria, continued their lives as businessmen certain that nothing could affect them. And yet they were wrong: collaborating on 'Ndrangheta deals in Argentina and Uruguay eventually paid the price.
The Argentinian Fabio Pompetti, a famous lawyer of Italian origins, and the two Italians Ferdinando Saragò and Giovanni Di Pietro, known in Buenos Aires as Massimo Pertini, ended up in the justice system. Having arrived in Argentina thirty years ago as a fugitive after having participated in a kidnapping in Sicily, he lived with another identity.
Since last winter they had continued their lives as if nothing had happened, among the most exclusive neighborhoods of Buenos Aires: Pompetti had even published a music video on Instagram on July 17, the latest in a long series. In fact, in addition to his career as a lawyer and agri-food entrepreneur, Pompetti also sings in a jazz band and owns an important nightlife bar in Porteña. The investigations by the Argentine police were anything but simple. «They almost didn't talk to each other on the phone and when they did, they spoke in code» explained a Gendarmerie source to La Nacion, partner of IrpiMedia, «Pompetti was the only one who didn't keep a low profile. An eccentric character who handled various businesses at the same time, but until now no one in Argentina had managed to connect him to drug trafficking."
The result was obtained by the investigations coordinated by the deputy prosecutor of Reggio Calabria Gaetano Paci, revealing the connection of the three Argentines to international drug trafficking. In tracing the cocaine trafficking of the Bellocco gang of Rosarno - which together with the Pesce gang controls the port of Gioia Tauro - the investigators had noticed more than one supply channel at their disposal thanks to the three Argentine contacts made by a sui generis entrepreneur from Rosarno: Carmelo Aglioti. Part drug trafficker, part import-export expert, Aglioti emerges from the documents as a high-level factotum on behalf of the Bellocco gang which in more than 40 years of commuting with Argentina had lent itself to various interests of Calabrian organized crime.
Aglioti tells Di Pietro, not suspecting he is being intercepted, about his many trips to Latin America and how various gangs are bringing him into play both for drug trafficking and for capital reinvestment. The fixer is also approached by the powerful Morabito gang alias "Tiradrittu" of Africo, in Locride, who wants help from him to free the biggest Italian drug trafficker in Mercosur, Rocco Morabito alias "U Tamunga".
Mission: liberate “U Tamunga”
Arrested on 4 September 2017 in Punta del Este in Uruguay and taken to a prison in Montevideo, Morabito had lived as a fugitive in the country for over twenty years, ever since he escaped capture during the "Fortaleza" operation of the Milan district anti-mafia directorate in 1994. Morabito has been on the run for a year and investigators believe he may be along the Triple Frontera between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
The fall of Rocco Morabito is a serious problem for the entire 'Ndrangheta and its South American partners. Thus, a month and a half after the arrest in September 2017, the Morabito family asked Aglioti for a meeting knowing his knowledge of Argentina. The meeting, without their knowledge, is monitored by the Financial Police. «Now, is your cousin (way of calling U Tamunga, ed.) for money laundering?», asks Aglioti to understand what crimes the narcos is accused of. «So, the reason why all this operation has to be done… pi mi staci docu (to stay in that place, i.e. in Uruguay, ed.)… therefore not extradited here to Italy, right? To make him stay there! Because the crimes charged there (Uruguay, ed.) are not the same as here, right?". Antonio Morabito, brother of U Tamunga, asserts and explains that yes, this is what they would like to do because in Uruguay he is only charged with possession of false documents. And that before extradition we should be able to get him released from prison.
The idea is to open a company so that Morabito can demonstrate that he has a real commercial activity in Uruguay, a strategy used by many criminals both to obtain an alternative measure to detention (social work) and to avoid extradition to Italy. «With documentation that says that this guy doesn't want to come to Italy because he wants to establish himself in South America and create a commercial business […] this is already a cop-out!», explains the brother.
Aglioti needs to find contacts in Argentina capable of getting U Tamunga out of prison, or at least preventing his extradition, a plan for which the family already has 50 thousand euros ready to invest in Uruguayan territory to oil the mechanisms. But there is a problem and Antonio Morabito knows it: you need to find someone in Argentina willing to advance the sum of money locally so as to evade controls on international currency transfers. Aglioti searches for solutions out loud, for example to justify a transfer of funds thanks to the pasta export business he already deals with. «You always need a fucking story! We need an explanation!", echoes Morabito. «Always», replies Aglioti. “If they stop you, at least you know what to say.” The fixer brings up the Italian-Argentine Ferdinando Saragò (one of the three arrested on 21 July) who could perhaps help them. Saragò sells tiles and a few times a year goes to Calabria, in the Vibo area, to buy them and it could be the perfect excuse.
Saragò, together with Pompetti and Di Pietro, are for the magistrates the group of contacts in Argentina for Aglioti and the interests of the 'ndrangheta represented by him. In fact, Aglioti ai Morabito speaks of Pompetti and Di Pietro as lawyers capable of dealing with the release of Rocco Morabito as they would have already handled similar cases in the past for the Mancuso gang of Limbadi. Anything goes for Morabito, as long as it is done quickly. Thus, Aglioti immediately wrote to Pompetti. «Everything is ok for your people in Uruguay. I have to move very carefully. I promise you success in everything", replies the lawyer.
The investigations have not established whether this specific plan to free U Tamunga was successful, what is certain is that the narcos managed to escape from prison two years later, on 24 June 2019 and that he still remains at large between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
Argentine brokers and 'Ndrangheta restaurants
Aglioti's affairs with "the Argentinians" Pompetti, Saragò and Di Pietro were not limited to prisoner issues. What emerges from the "Magma" operation are rather drug trafficking agreements to export hundreds of kilos of cocaine from South America to Europe. In fact, the unsuspecting Pompetti was - according to the accusation - the one with connections to suppliers both in Argentina (in the Tucuman area) and in Uruguay, where he had relations with the narcos "Rubens". «Unfortunately we were unable to identify him – explains Reggio Calabria prosecutor Calogero Gaetano Paci to IrpiMedia – but at a certain point we learned that he was even in Holland».
But not everything goes smoothly. In fact, in April 2017 Aglioti returned to Argentina because he entrusted Pompetti and his associates with 20 thousand euros from the Bellocco clan for a first test load organized by Rubens who, however, according to Pompetti's justifications, took the money and did not send the cocaine. Aglioti is furious, when he met him months earlier Rubens seemed like a serious supplier. To talk about business, she had taken him to a special restaurant: the "San Luca" in Puerto Madero, managed by another 'Ndrangheta gang, the Pelle di San Luca.
Puerto Madero is a rich neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where the restaurants overlook a canal of the Río de la Plata, an ocean inlet. It was Giuseppe Pelle who opened that restaurant in 2016, as a fugitive. Son of San Luca boss Antonio Pelle alias "Gambazza", Giuseppe Pelle is himself a convicted mafia boss, arrested in Calabria in 2018. Among Calabrians in Argentina it is clear that clothes are washed at home and that, despite being on a mission for a different clan, Aglioti prefers to arrange meetings in the free zone. That is, in the Sanlucoti restaurant, away from prying eyes and ears. A precaution which, however, will not save him from the unexpected event of a supplier who does not keep his promises. And in fact Rubens disappears, but Aglioti, peremptorily, orders Pompetti to recover the stolen goods, forcing the fruit import-export company involved in the trafficking, Alameda Fruit, to return the money. It's a shame that the American bank where Alameda has the account stops the transaction due to anti-money laundering regulations: it requires to be able to see the invoice.
However, Aglioti has neither a company in his name nor a VAT number and it is up to Pompetti to patch things up: create ad hoc documents to make the operation credible. But the documentation does not pass anti-money laundering screening. On 27 July 2017 on WhatsApp Pompetti justified himself by saying that the «money was not banked and therefore [..] we had to make a beastly move of cards to bank it [..]. It is difficult to turn black money into white money and it is quite obvious [..]. We will resolve it shortly but we need to do things right. The company that did it (i.e. the fruit company used as a cover, ed.) must also give explanations to its bank." In short, it is difficult for a cash deposit for a load of cocaine to be returned with a bank transfer without arousing suspicion. Aglioti dryly replies that the Argentine must solve it alone because "your problems are none of their business, you have what belongs to them", i.e. the money of the 'Ndrangheta. Not exactly a comfortable debt situation.
The Roman partner and the corrupt police
Pompetti, despite his debt to the Belloccos, is not frightened by Aglioti's threats. What reassures him is the presence in the deal of the Roman partner, Di Pietro, who, as we read in the investigation documents, «constituted the front office between the Italian gangs and the South American drug suppliers» being able to count on a well-established criminal career that began in '78 in Sicily with the kidnapping and murder of Franz Trovato, son of an industrialist from Acireale. After the bloody event, Di Pietro fled to Argentina where the notification of the sentence in absentia never arrived. And with a section of the Argentine police, the corrupt one, Di Pietro cultivates good relations: to the point of learning of the existence of a judicial investigation into him and Aglioti.
Absolutely confidential information, which Pompetti will see confirmed by his other sources: they are all under investigation. Aglioti is incredulous, and thinks he has ended up in some Argentine investigation due to his contacts with Pompetti, Saragò and Di Pietro. Not for an instant does it cross his mind that the Belloccos' drug trafficking could be the reason for the investigators' attention. He insists that he has informed himself and that he is free to enter Argentina. Pompetti loses patience: «If there is an ongoing investigation it is not public. He is a suspect here and so are you and others. I don't know this from the courts. You greatly underestimate the situation that has arisen [...] I repeat, you are all in the crosshairs. If you don't want to understand, that's up to you. They have been following you for a long time."
They got the Colombian
The Argentines are worried about the ongoing investigation. But the Calabrians don't listen to reason, we need to get on with business: organizing the cocaine shipments and recovering the 20,000 euros given to the narco Rubens. Pompetti manages to convince Aglioti that returning the money via bank transfer is risky, that the money "is hot", and so they come up with an alternative: giving up the return of the money in exchange for a guarantee on the delivery of a new load of cocaine, asking for a personal meeting with Rubens. It is September 2017 and Pompetti recommends paying attention to the "very complex era" due to the capture of Rocco Morabito "U Tamunga".
Not only that, there is another news story that worries both Pompetti and Rubens who is "around" (he has made himself untraceable, ed.): on 3 October 2017 the Argentine lawyer sends Aglioti a photo, it is a screenshot of the news of the capture of a Colombian drug trafficker, with the subtitle: "The idea was to send the money to Argentina to clean it up". This is the narco-entrepreneur José Bayron Piedrahíta Ceballos, arrested in Colombia, and who subsequently confessed to laundering large sums in Argentina. The Italian investigations were unable to ascertain whether the arrest worried Pompetti because it was a sign of a less than tolerant climate, or because there was some type of connection between Piedrahíta and the white-collar group this story is about.
In any case, the waters seem to return calmer at the end of October 2017, when Aglioti confided to a friend that they would go to meet Rubens in Punta del Este, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and located in southern Uruguay about 200 km from the border with Argentina, right where U Tamunga lived. This circumstance - together with the fact that Rubens goes "around" (i.e. hides) as soon as Piedrahíta is arrested - suggests continuity with the same drug trafficker ring.
According to what investigators discovered, Pompetti and Aglioti also have a second cocaine supply channel with suppliers located in the north-west of Argentina, in Tucuman, known for the production of lemons. And it is precisely these citrus fruits that Aglioti wants to use as a cover. The idea is to organize a legal import-export to a fruit company in Rosarno (near the port of Gioia Tauro) which supplies large-scale distribution and whose owner is related to the Belloccos, Aglioti's reference clan for drug trafficking.
Atachahua: from the Andes to Calabria, the story of a ghost narco
«This is a legal discussion that interests me very much, because my intention is to take from this and invest something here! (drug trafficking, according to the Gdf, ed. )», explains Aglioti to Di Pietro. Lemons but also and above all pasta. Artisanal Calabrian pasta that Aglioti sells in Argentina to various buyers, including the Pelle family from the San Luca restaurant in Puerto Madero, according to him.
A perfect cover for the international trader of quality products that Aglioti has built for himself, but not enough to stop the investigations of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate which began with a 384 kilo load thrown into the sea by the Hamburg Sud cargo ship off the coast of Gioia Tauro. Once the fishing vessel that was supposed to collect them had been identified, the investigators worked their way up to Aglioti and - obviously - to the Bellocco drug trafficking business with the support of white collar workers in Argentina. Aglioti in Buenos Aires boasts about it to Di Pietro: the Belloccos control the port of Gioia Tauro but also the French port of Le Havre. And he adds great news about the Calabrian port: the bags with the blocks of cocaine are thrown into the sea by compliant members of the crew and then the Belloccos send fishing boats or divers to recover them from the sea.
The cocaine tactic at sea
«When it is thrown into the water they tow it, with a hook they tow it... you can't see anything on the boat! There's a hook underneath and they tow it... in safe waters, that's how it's done! […] on the boat you don't see anything! There's a hook underneath and they tow it... into safe waters." Obviously, it is essential, as recalled by Aglioti, the use of a GPS system in order to signal the precise position of the narcotic "[...] Yes... it is clear that you have to know where you are throwing it, right!? You have to say "I threw it off the coast of..." ... therefore, you have to give him the coordinates! The one with the boat is connected to the GPS, therefore...". His interlocutor, the naturalized Argentinian Di Pietro insists: he wants to know if it arrives in Gioia Tauro. Aglioti explains that in reality the "launch" takes place at least 6 miles away, towards the Aeolian Islands, and that when the fishing boats arrive in the area they turn off the transponder that signals their position so as not to be intercepted by the Finance container leaving from Latin America.
The epilogue of Magma and the arrests in Argentina
On 18 November 2019, the investigating judge of Reggio Calabria Antonino Foti signed a precautionary custody order for 49 people. In addition to members of the Bellocco gang, those arrested also included Carmelo Aglioti and his "boss" Francesco Morano. But among the recipients of the measure there are also the three "Argentinians": Di Pietro, Pompetti and Saragò. Since then the three have remained free in Argentina, because Interpol had to locate other fugitives in Costa Rica and Argentina before definitively closing the circle of the "Magma" operation. As the months passed and the pandemic arrived, the three Argentines believed they were now "forgotten". But they were wrong, despite their contacts with corrupt police officials, they had failed to discover in time that Interpol and the Argentine Gendarmerie had not lost sight of them and were waiting for the best moment to act. On July 21, Argentina found itself opening its eyes to the infiltration of the powerful international business mafia, the 'ndrangheta, which made the country a solid base from which to direct operations in the so-called Narcosur. It is from here that, sitting at the table of a trendy bar, the 'ndrangheta brokers decided on the movements along the third most important cocaine route to Europe, the one that winds along the Triple Frontera and unites Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Sao Paulo in a single agreement.
«This investigation – says the deputy prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, Gaetano Paci, to IrpiMedia – conducted in international collaboration with the I-CAN (Interpol Cooperation Against 'Ndrangheta) protocol, demonstrates once again that drug trafficking links the 'ndrangheta clans with international business sectors and with subjects from the world of professions and institutions who have access to unofficial information channels and who are an effective source of money laundering, extraordinary on a global level». “Magma” is the first investigation that puts in black and white the deep-rooted presence of the 'Ndrangheta in Argentina. For Paci, the presence of the gangs in Mercosur is physiological: «For the 'ndrangheta it is essential to have a deep level of connection with the producing and exporting countries but also with the transit of cocaine and in this sense Argentina – concludes Paci – is strategic both for its position and because it is a land of Italians and therefore there is a widespread presence of our mafias».