Peppe arrested in Colombia
Bogotá, July 11 (EFE). –
Colombian authorities, with the support of Italy and the United Kingdom, captured Giuseppe Palermo, alias “Peppe,” in Bogotá, the main leader of the Italian ‘Ndrangheta gang in Latin America, Colombian Police Director General Carlos Fernando Triana announced Friday.
“The extraditable suspect, wanted in 196 countries and belonging to one of the most secretive core groups of this criminal organization, not only led the purchase of large shipments of cocaine in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, but also controlled the sea and land routes to transport the drugs to European markets,” General Triana stated on his X account.
The senior official explained that the capture of alias “Peppe” is a result of the offensive against multi-crime and crime in Colombia, which on this occasion had the support of Europol.
This arrest follows the one that occurred last March, when alleged Italian drug trafficker Emanuele Gregorini, alias ‘Dollarino,’ considered the “top leader of the Italian mafia in Latin America,” was captured in the Colombian city of Cartagena, according to police reports.
According to the police chief, Gregorini was the “leader of the Lombardo Mafia System, made up of the Camorra, Cosa Nostra, and ‘Ndrangheta mafias, responsible for sending large shipments of cocaine from Colombia, Panama, and Brazil to Europe.”
“This invisible drug trafficker was wanted in 196 countries under a Red Notice, as a priority for Interpol in its fight against the Italian mafia,” he added.
The ‘Ndrangheta is a multinational criminal organization that, in recent years, has surpassed in power the other classic criminal organizations in Italy, such as Cosa Nostra or the Neapolitan Camorra.
With the impenetrable mountains of Calabria, Italy’s poorest region, as its stronghold, it was long underestimated as a small criminal organization confined to its territory.
Over time, however, it grew and spread its tentacles throughout the world, thanks to gambling, corruption of public tenders, and, above all, drugs from Latin America. EFE gsm/mcd
