Italy's 'Ndrangheta: Mexico's Zetas Ally?

By Ed Scarpo 0 Comments

The Zetas have expanded from a Mexican organized crime ring into a significant power in the international drug trade -- and it has gotten a little help courtesy of the terrifying Italian mafia group called the ‘Ndrangheta, reports In Sight: Organized Crime in America.

First a little history, The Zetas, once the military wing of the Gulf Cartel, is now among one of the most violent groups in Mexico. They take their name from the radio code used for top-level officers in the Mexican army. They are highly organized, regularly use brutality and shock tactics – including gasoline bombs, beheadings, and roadblocks. The United States DEA describes them as perhaps “the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and violent of ... paramilitary enforcement groups.”

The 'Ndrangheta is a criminal organization in Italy, centered in Calabria. Despite not being as famous abroad as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, and having been considered more rural compared to the Neapolitan Camorra and the Apulian Sacra Corona Unita, the 'Ndrangheta managed to become the most powerful crime syndicate of Italy in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While commonly lumped together with the Sicilian Mafia, the 'Ndrangheta operates independently from the Sicilians, though there is contact between the two due to the geographical closeness of Calabria and Sicily. A US diplomat estimated that the organization's drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering activities accounted for at least 3 per cent of Italy's GDP.

"As M Semanal, the weekly magazine of the newspaper Milenio, reports in its most recent edition, the links between the ‘Ndrangheta and the Zetas have grown sharply in recent years. A new international investigation demonstrates that the Mexicans have turned themselves into the main suppliers of the ‘Ndrangheta by shipping cocaine through the U.S. and on to Italy," the article says.

"The Zetas' links to the ‘Ndrangheta and their growing weight in Europe further demonstrates the Mexican cartel's international clout. While the gang was initially no more than a squad of hit men when formed in the later 1990s, since its 2010 split with the Gulf Cartel, for whom it had worked for more than a decade, the Zetas have increased their operations in Central America (especially Guatemala), South America, and Europe. This gives them a separate base of power and source of income more resistent to the pressure from the Mexican government."

As M Semanal notes, "Europe, where the cocaine industry is worth an estimated $34 billion annually is a logical target for Mexican gangs. For the time being, that means working with the ‘Ndrangheta, the dominant importer in Europe. The intimate links between the two gangs suggests that the Zetas' relevance as an international supplier will continue for years into the future, notwithstanding redoubled American and Mexican attempts to eliminate the group."

In Europe, cocaine consumption has doubled in the past 10 years, reaching between 4.5 and 5 million consumers, which generate revenues of up to $34 billion dollars a year, according to the UN.

"The increase in demand from the old country has made groups like the ‘Ndrangheta seek more cocaine... The strategy of the Mexicans is to take the drugs directly to Italy from the U.S. at a low cost." In conrtast, the Serbians bring the cocaine “to the doors of the Italian mafia” without them having to look for it in Latin America and transport it to Europe.

However, “the Mexicans don’t like the Serbians looking for drugs in Latin America to take it to Europe...This can create more violence... [according to the book] Ndrangheta: The Roots of the Hatred, a group of Serbians recently traveled to Mexico with the idea of exploring opportunities for their illegal businesses. Nevertheless, members of the Zetas intercepted them and killed them," In Sigh reports.