Alleged Italian Mafia Leader Arrested in Colombia

The Colombian government announced the capture of Giuseppe Palermo, allegedly one of the main representatives of the Italian Mafia Ndrangheta in Latin America and responsible for smuggling cocaine to the European continent.

"Someone known as 'Peppe,' the Italian representative of the 'Ndrangheta mafia in Latin America, has been detained," the Colombian Defense Minister said on social media on Saturday.

"In Bogotá, our police, with the support of Europol, the United Kingdom, and Italy, captured Giuseppe Palermo, wanted in 196 countries for drug trafficking and criminal association," said Pedro Sánchez.

Sánchez explained that 'Peppe' was a member of the Platì clan, “one of the most secret and dangerous nuclei of the Ndrangheta mafia,” where he served as “the main coordinator of cocaine trafficking from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to Europe.”

The arrest, he added, was carried out as part of Phase II of the so-called “MegaOperation PATRI”, which previously led to the capture — in Italy — of 21 other members of the same criminal network.

"Colombia demonstrates once again that the fight against transnational crime is comprehensive, coordinated, and effective. There is no hiding place for organized crime. We will continue to close the doors to drug trafficking, wherever it operates," Sánchez stated in the same publication, in which he also asked for citizens' collaboration in "fighting crime."

At the end of May, Italian police arrested 97 people accused of involvement or collaboration with the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia in southwestern Italy, in a large-scale operation across several regions of the country.

The authorities' action against Italian organized crime took place in 14 provinces, with those arrested accused of crimes of mafia association, collaboration, drug trafficking and possession, extortion, kidnapping and illegal possession of weapons.

The investigations also focused on the influence of organized crime on the political system.

The investigation revealed the existence of an organized and stable criminal structure, the result of an alliance between the main mafia families in the province of Reggio Calabria, with the aim of controlling drug trafficking at a national and international level.

According to a police statement, this organized crime structure allowed the 'Ndrangheta – the mafia originating from Calabria – to maintain vast monopolies in international drug trafficking.