Feds Bust Massive Trans-Atlantic Mob Ring

Rocket River · Feb 11, 2014

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/stranger-scorsese-feds-bust-massive-trans-atlantic-mob-ring-n27161

A two-year probe that stretched from the streets of Brooklyn to an Italian peninsula has uncovered an alliance between a Gambino family man and the vicious 'Ndrangheta organization to shuttle massive amounts of heroin, cocaine and weapons across the Atlantic, officials said.

Twenty-four people in the United States and Italy were arrested in coordinated sweeps after a risky operation that used wiretaps and undercover agents to penetrate the heart of the network, authorities said.

The court papers read like the screenplay of a Martin Scorsese mob movie, with details of a plot to smuggle cocaine in shipments of frozen fish, a sitdown at a Manhattan donut shop, and the sale of a handgun and silencer at a Brooklyn bakery.

In a particularly cinematic passage, one defendant caught on tape talks about his devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel and exhorts a confederate to wear a special ring as a sign of his allegiance.

The "linchpin" of the New York City end of the operation — which aimed to sell cocaine to Italy and heroin to the U.S. — was Franco Lupoi, 44, according to Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

"He is the bridge that connects this operation," she said.

Part-owner of the Royal Crown Bakery in Bensonhurst, Lupoi allegedly has close ties to Frank Cali, the reputed underboss of the Gambino crime family, the underworld syndicate once run by "Dapper Don" John Gotti.

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said it was unclear if Lupoi's activities were sanctioned by the Gambino hierarchy but noted, "historically, it's a big risk to go on your own like that."

Lupoi is also connected by blood and marriage to two key members of the Ursino clan of 'Ndrangheta, the ruthless Mafia organization based in the Calabria region of southern Italy, prosecutors said.

His father-in-law, Nicola Simonetta, bragged that he had a contact at the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria who would guarantee safe passage to the illegal shipments, court papers said.

At a Sept. 12, 2012, meeting, Lupoi outlined an ambitious plan to an undercover agent who infiltrated the crew: He had contacts in Guyana who would ship cocaine to Italy, and then possibly onto Canada, by hiding it in frozen food.

"They put a hundred grams, two hundred grams in each fish," Lupoi said, according to prosecutors. "It takes a day to defrost and then it takes a day to take out."

Asked whether he was worried that he would not get paid if he was using middlemen, Lupoi expressed confidence. "We're dealing with the Italian mob," he allegedly replied.

His Italian connections took control of a fish wholesaler to accept the coke-stuffed fish, but the plan hit a snag when the Guyanese shipping firm had some of its drug-filled containers seized in an unrelated bust, prosecutors alleged.

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This is kind of Mega. . . . but still probably a small dent.

I wonder how many convictions they will get

Rocket River

R0ckets03 · Feb 11, 2014

Its like Godfather, Breaking Bad, The Wire and American Gangster wrapped in one story.

RKREBORN · Feb 11, 2014

Can't wait for the movie

UtilityPlayer · Feb 11, 2014

What about my federalihood?

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Feds Bust Massive Trans-Atlantic Mob Ring

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