268:, Spain, together with his son Alessandro Pannunzi and his right-hand man and son-in-law Francesco Antonio Bumbaca, married with his daughter Simona. The arrests completed an investigation, known as Operation Igres, that resulted in a total of 42 arrests in three countries. In 2001 and 2002 the organization arranged shipments of over eight tons of cocaine from Colombia to be distributed to Italian crime groups in Europe. The extended network operated in Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Portugal, Spain, Greece, South Africa, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. "Every important criminal figure went to him," according to Diego Trotta, a member of an elite police squad that captured Pannunzi. Pannunzi was working with the 'Ndrangheta from the town of Platì, notably Paolo Sergi and Pasquale Marando, and
173:, while French Connection chemists Alain Mazza and Gilles Pairone were refining 20 kilograms of heroin. Pannunzi was one of the first to understand that there was a lot more money to be made with cocaine, which was rapidly becoming the new drug of choice among the affluent. He set up a very profitable deal, trading 1 kilogram of heroin for 25 kilograms of cocaine in the U.S. using the differences in availability on both markets. As a result of the police dismantling the operation an arrest warrant was issued against Pannunzi for drug trafficking and criminal association.
244:, Colombia, while attending the funeral of a Colombian friend. He had tried to bribe the policeman who arrested him offering one million US dollars. When he was visited in prison by an Italian police officer he boasted about the huge investments in property and precious stones in Canada, Australia, Medellin and Rome. He had unrestricted use of a cellular phone throughout the year he spent in prison in Colombia before his
313:-year sentence in Italy. "He is the biggest cocaine importer in the world," said Nicola Gratteri, deputy chief prosecutor in Reggio Calabria, when he was detained. "He is the only one who can organise purchases and sales of cocaine shipments of 3,000 kilos and up." According to crime writer Saviano "he was a sort of
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At the height of his criminal career he was trading 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms of cocaine a month. On a tapped phone, he was overheard boasting of the ease and confidence with which he handled his
Colombian suppliers. To reinforce the bonds with his Colombian suppliers, Pannunzi arranged his son
251:
Pannunzi was extradited to Italy in
December 1994, but managed to escape in 1998 taking advantage of a temporary medical release. The next day he was on the run. He became a fugitive based in Colombia. In 1999, he was included in the
114:
of Miceli's first born. The relation between the
Calabrian and the Sicilian mafioso also was very useful for drug trafficking because of their connection in both criminal organisations.
216:, Pannunzi would become "the only one who can sell both to the 'Ndrangheta and to Cosa Nostra. He is definitely the most powerful drug broker in the world". According to crime writer
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126:") as a cover in the 1980s when he was making his way in the heroin business. In the late 1970s and 1980s he was involved in heroin trafficking with the Sicilian Mafiosi
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63:. He has been described as "Europe's most wanted drugs trafficker", and the "biggest cocaine trafficker in the world", the equivalent of
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days, to set up a heroin-refining lab on Sicily. He also traded heroin to the U.S. on behalf of the Mafia bosses from
Palermo
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134:, organizing shipments from Turkey through Italy to the United States. He put them in contact with Corsican gangsters from
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220:, he traded cocaine to rival Italian crime families: "He collected money from the various families, often rival families.
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645:, Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata mafiosa o similare, January 2006
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Pannunzi was born in Rome in 1948. His father came from Rome but his mother from
Calabria, kindred with the Macrì
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In 2010, he managed to escape from a private hospital in Rome, where he was being treated for heart disease.
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of cocaine. He changed the way the business works, he understood the new dynamics of the cocaine market."
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189:. He moved to Colombia where he would become one of the most important cocaine brokers for both the
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335:"Roberto Pannunzi, 'world's biggest cocaine trafficker', set to be returned to Italy and prison"
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75:(DEA), the drug trafficking activities of Pannunzi have been documented for over 30 years.
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Italian 'mafia boss' captured: Europe's most wanted drugs trafficker arrested in
Colombia
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583:, by Alison Jamieson, Jahrbuch für internationale Sicherheitspolitik 1999, December 1999
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369:"Cocaine 'broker' Roberto Pannunzi back in jail in Italy after arrest in Colombia"
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Mafia export: Come ’Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra e
Camorra hanno colonizzato il mondo
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457:, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 2005
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110:, a Sicilian mafioso. They became close friends and Pannunzi became the
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Back in Rome, he ran an upmarket fashion boutique "Il
Papavero" ("The
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to Italy to prevent a lengthy extradition procedure, to serve a
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Pannunzi started to contact
Colombian traffickers in Venezuela,
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Legendary cocaine trafficker
Roberto Pannunzi deported to Italy
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In 1989, Pannunzi was involved in setting up a heroin lab near
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On July 5, 2013, he was captured again in a shopping mall in
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Detenidos en Majadahonda tres miembros de la mafia calabresa
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Cooperation Between Organized Crime Groups Around The World
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Bebè, il boss dei due mondi re della coca che veste firmato
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272:, a Sicilian Mafia boss based in Venezuela with links to
169:. The lab was discovered on May 21, 1990, in a farmhouse
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Top world cocaine dealer deported from Colombia to Italy
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Italy's most wanted drug trafficker arrested in Colombia
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to Italy, and hence was able to continue his business.
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International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2005
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Uno degli affari di Cosa Nostra e 'Ndrangheta insieme
95:. As a boy, he moved to Canada with his family. In
276:from the Mafia family from Brancaccio in Palermo.
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103:, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta boss from Siderno.
240:He was first arrested on January 28, 1994, in
201:. According to the deputy chief prosecutor in
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228:'s marriage with a notorious family from the
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521:Roberto Pannunzi: il Copernico della cocaina
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91:in Calabria. He is a former employee of
686:, Milan: Baldini Castoldi Dalai editore
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593:Cocaine Mafia boss arrested in Colombia
551:, Corriere della Sera, October 16, 1993
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393:, Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2007
254:list of most wanted fugitives in Italy
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391:Little-known mafia is cocaine 'king'
161:in northern Italy together with the
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35:(Baby), is an Italian criminal from
358:, Corriere della Sera, July 7, 2013
291:, in a joint operation between the
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725:Canadian people of Italian descent
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165:and Sergi 'Ndrangheta clans from
71:. According to the United States
295:and the DEA. He was immediately
735:People extradited from Colombia
371:. theguardian.com. 7 July 2013.
73:Drug Enforcement Administration
43:, a Mafia-type organisation in
672:, The Independent, 6 July 2013
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610:, El Tiempo, January 29, 1994
595:, Channel 4 News, 6 July 2013
527:, La Repubblica, July 7, 2013
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680:Forgione, Francesco (2009).
625:, Narcomafie, September 2007
608:Cae enlace de mafia italiana
67:, the head of the Colombian
31:; born 1948), also known as
28:[roˈbɛrtopanˈnuntsi]
7:
730:Italian emigrants to Canada
10:
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745:Organized crime in Toronto
740:People extradited to Italy
138:and convinced the chemist
660:, El Mundo, April 5, 2004
427:, Herald Sun, 6 July 2013
283:Third arrest, in Colombia
236:First arrest, in Colombia
199:Colombian cocaine cartels
61:Colombian cocaine cartels
715:Italian drug traffickers
337:. scmp.com. 6 July 2013.
106:While in Toronto he met
410:, BBC News, 6 July 2013
260:Second arrest, in Spain
47:. He is one of the top
442:, Reuters, 6 July 2013
142:an old hand from the
99:he became a pupil of
643:Relazione conclusiva
549:Narcos alla milanese
505:, ADUC, May 30, 2003
623:Un brusco risveglio
568:, AFP, July 6, 2013
274:Giuseppe Guttadauro
226:Alessandro Pannunzi
152:Salvatore Inzerillo
128:Gaetano Badalamenti
720:Canadian gangsters
193:and the Calabrian
177:Moving to Colombia
144:French Connection
118:Heroin trafficker
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132:Gerlando Alberti
108:Salvatore Miceli
85:'Ndrangheta clan
51:brokers for the
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20:Roberto Pannunzi
16:Italian criminal
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203:Reggio Calabria
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148:Stefano Bontade
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69:Medellín Cartel
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191:Sicilian Mafia
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53:Sicilian Mafia
39:linked to the
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65:Pablo Escobar
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210: [
195:'Ndrangheta
79:Early years
57:'Ndrangheta
41:'Ndrangheta
694:Categories
485:, p. 51-58
479:Forgione,
321:References
315:Copernicus
197:with the
183:Amsterdam
136:Marseille
112:godfather
59:with the
297:deported
242:Medellin
171:Valsecca
93:Alitalia
55:and the
45:Calabria
24:Italian:
308:⁄
163:Barbaro
159:Bergamo
97:Toronto
89:Siderno
49:cocaine
289:Bogota
266:Madrid
187:Madrid
523:, by
214:]
167:Platì
124:Poppy
87:from
185:and
150:and
130:and
37:Rome
33:Bebè
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22:(
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