CJNG is New Key Cocaine Source for Italian 'Ndrangheta

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

'Ndrangheta clan leaders.

Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (DIA) confirmed in its latest report that the 'Ndrangheta, the dangerous Calabrian mafia organization that controls wholesale cocaine trafficking in Europe, has a "consolidated" relationship with the Mexican Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG).

This link is used for cocaine trafficking "that travels in containers," explained the DIA. The context is that of a cartel that "would be concentrating a large part of its drug trafficking activities in Asia, Africa, and Europe," the agency added.

Although the connected groups have changed in Mexico, this has not broken the link with the country. There is a "strong interest" for the Italian mafias in "Colombia and Mexico", affirms the DIA in its most recent report. The main mafias in Italy in addition to the 'Ndrangheta, are the Camorra of Naples and the Cosa Nostra of Sicily.

The 'Ndrangheta, for example, “uses the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro as a strategic hub for traffic in Europe”, adds the institution.

According to the DIA investigators, the Calabrian criminal organization has a "front page role" in the drug trafficking sector also "thanks to its alliances with the Mexican drug traffickers", which allow it to manage "both the main links intercontinental between America and Europe”, as well as “the sale in Europe”, continues the anti-mafia agency in another report, in which it also warns about the danger posed by the infiltration of the three Italian mafias in Latin American societies.

These networks make use of the also consolidated relations between the Calabrian criminal group and Balkan organized crime. "The main shipments depart from the Pacific ports and pass through the Strait of Panama before reaching the countries of northern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the coasts of West Africa", they have concluded, considering the CJNG one of those networks "most aggressive" in Mexico.

Neither Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel, nor the Sinaloa Cartel appears in the latest DIA analyses. This is the first news that they are no longer designated as partners of the 'Ndrangheta, but that this position is now occupied by the CJNG. This is a significant change as those Mexican cartel groups were in business with the Italian mafias, some sources speak of relationships that began in the 1980s.

Previous Connections

The first time that the link between the Gulf Cartel and the 'Ndrangheta (among them, the Schirripa Clan) was uncovered was in 2008. It happened with the transnational operation Operación Solare (or Project Reckoning), carried out between Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, and Italy, which led to the arrest of some 200 people.

Later, in 2011, Operation Solare 2 (also known as Crimine 3), also coordinated by Italy, revealed how the then-rising Los Zetas had begun to operate with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta (particularly with the Jerino, Aquino, Bruzzese, Siderno, and Fish Clans). 

A 2019 Italian law enforcement investigation Operation Halcon, uncovered efforts by the Sinaloa Cartel to set up operations in the Sicilian city of Catania.

José Angel “El Flaco” Rivera Zazueta.

Catania was chosen as a test run for other potential cocaine flights from Latin America, which would refuel in West Africa, such as in Cape Verde. Two Sinaloa operatives were dispatched to Italy to liaise with local 'Ndrangheta contacts and supervise local arrangements weeks in advance. The Sinaloa figure, José Angel “El Flaco” Rivera Zazueta, a top lieutenant of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, would come to Italy only for the final stages. Based in Asia and living in places such as Taiwan, “El Flaco” had principally focused on managing the Sinaloa Cartel’s synthetic drug trafficking in Asia. Flaco was recently sanctioned by the US for his involvement in fentanyl trafficking.

Sources Proceso, Brookings Journal, Borderland Beat