Italian mafia’s plan to sink drug profits in Australia as Interpol, AFP target Ndrangheta clan

Europe’s most powerful mafia has shifted its targets to Australia and the AFP has joined Interpol to smash the organised crime clan, which has already infiltrated Melbourne’s food industry.

• Mafia men crack as Australian crime threat rises
• Italian cops want Melbourne mafia boss deported

Exclusive: Europe’s most powerful mafia has moved into medical transport and funeral homes during the coronavirus pandemic, as Australia joins a global hit squad battling the organised crime clan.

Italy’s Ndrangheta cartel has been pumping millions of dollars of drug profits as loans into legitimate businesses, with Australia a key target.

Interpol secretary-general Jurgen Stock told News Corp Australia in an exclusive interview that the Ndrangheta were adapting to the health crisis with the agency’s data revealing a shift in their targets.

“Supply of medicines, medical equipment, of course transportation, funeral services, cleaning services … waste disposal, all these are areas where Ndrangheta are now looking for opportunities to increase their illegal profits,” he said.

Mr Stock said Ndrangheta was infiltrating the legitimate economy, he added, with poorer people offered handouts then recruited as drug mules.

“COVID-19 is providing Ndrangheta and other organised crime groups with increased opportunities, they are well placed to offer assistance to large, medium and small companies,” he said.

Secretary General of Interpol Jurgen Stock. Picture: AFP

News Corp Australia can reveal for the first time that the Australian Federal Police has signed up to an Interpol scheme, backed by Italy, to crack down on the group, known as the Honoured Society in Australia.

The INTERPOL Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta (I-CAN) project will sweep up intelligence data across 32 countries where the cartel operates.

Tax and customs information will also be shared to track the movement of illegal profits across the world.

Mr Stock has been in contact with AFP Commission Reece Kershaw about the taskforce.

An AFP statement said: “The AFP is an active participant in I-CAN efforts to disrupt the ‘Ndrangheta mafia networks globally.

Italian Carabinieri Police opening bags seized from the southern 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate during a raid last year. Picture: AFP

“It is expected that along with other criminal networks, the ‘Ndrangheta will seek to take advantage of the disruption and opportunities created by the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) has confirmed it was aware of the mafia threat during COVID-19 and was monitoring suspicious transactions.

“We are committed to tackling serious financial crime in Australia and we work through a number of joint initiatives that bring together government, private sector and regulatory stakeholders to target the key financial crime threats to Australia,” the ACIC said in a statement.

Queen’s University (Canada) mafia expert Professor Antonio Nicaso said Australia was a key target for Ndrangheta.

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Italian author and university Professor Antonio Nicaso. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

“They make billions of dollars every year and they will be looking at opportunities, including in Australia,” he said.

The group would increase its influence in legitimate businesses in Australia, while switching to bigger imports of cocaine and heroin as precursor chemicals from China became harder to obtain to make synthetic drugs.

The Ndrangheta already has established links in Australia’s food industry.

Italian police want Melbourne crime figure Frank Madafferi extradited there when he completes a sentence in 2021 for his part in the importation of 4.4 million tonnes of ecstasy pills hidden in tomato tins.

Frank Madafferi is taken from a prison van into the Supreme Court in Victoria in 2017. Picture: David Crosling

Australian Customs display some of the seized 4.4m tonnes of ecstasy (MDMA) tablets, in what they said was the biggest haul of the illicit drug anywhere in the world, in Melbourne.

Anna Sergi, criminology lecturer at University of Essex in England, said businesses in Australia were at risk if they accepted help from Ndrangheta.

The group would loan money to distressed businesses and take a cut of the enterprise when they could not pay.

“Cash is going to be needed from different sources to keep businesses afloat. Any type of cash will be needed fast,” she said.

Organised crime funnelled up to $400 billion AUD into legitimate businesses during the 2008 global financial crisis, including investing in banks, according to the UN Drugs and Crime Office.

Originally published as Italian mafia’s plan to sink drug profits in Australia as Interpol, AFP target Ndrangheta clan