Giuseppe Coluccio
| Giuseppe Coluccio | |
|---|---|
Mugshot of 'Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe Coluccio
|
|
| Born |
April 12, 1966 Marina di Gioiosa Ionica, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Allegiance | 'Ndrangheta |
Giuseppe Coluccio (born April 12, 1966 in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica), is an Italian criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type organisation in Calabria. He was a fugitive since 2005 and included in the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy until his capture on August 7, 2008, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Coluccio was born in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica a seaside town on southern Italy's Ionian coast. He was the first of three sons born into a traditional 'Ndrangheta family. Before he reached his teens, his father was murdered in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica during a bloody feud that ravaged competing 'Ndrangheta clan Mazzaferro, in contrast to the clan Aquino. The clan survived and eventually rose to prominence under the leadership of Giuseppe Coluccio. The clan achieved an "unbreakable" monopoly on the sale of fish through the "power of intimidation" that was so strong the fisherman declared it a "law" that they answered to the clan, according to Italian Antimafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri in a dossier for Canadian authorities. Proceeds from the monopoly were invested in a "vast drug-trafficking operation in cocaine."
His first arrest for drug dealing and trafficking was in 1991. Since then, various investigations identified him as a key player in the import of cocaine from Colombia for a cartel of 'Ndrangheta clans in collaboration with Roberto Pannunzi, who brokered the deals in Latin America.
He was also involved in trafficking heroin from Turkey, smuggled in by fishing boats controlled by the Coluccio-Aquino 'Ndrina in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica. He is a cousin of Rocco Aquino and Giuseppe Aquino, the bosses of the Aquino 'ndrina in the town.
He has been a fugitive since 2005 when he fled charges on drug trafficking in relation to an operation by the Italian police arresting 30 people (Operation Nostromo), that also included his brother Salvatore Coluccio. Leading 'Ndrangheta bosses around Toronto were told to expect the Coluccios before they arrived. His youngest brother, Antonio Coluccio, who was not facing charges in Italy at the time, arrived first and settled with his Canadian wife in Richmond Hill, Ontario – a member of the Siderno Group (he later faced Mafia related charges in Italy in 2014 after leaving Canada in 2010). His brothers came soon after. Coluccio entered on the powerful Camera di controllo – the board of control for 'Ndrangheta clans, comprising six or seven Toronto-area men, who co-ordinate activities and resolves disputes among Calabrian gangsters in Southern Ontario.
...
Wikipedia