Giuseppe Coluccio
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
-type organisation in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
. 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
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
(Canada).
Born in 'Ndrangheta family
Coluccio was born in Marina di Gioiosa IonicaMarina di Gioiosa Ionica
Marina di Gioiosa Ionica is a comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 70 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 60 km northeast of Reggio Calabria...
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 Siderno
Siderno
Siderno is a town and comune located in Calabria, Italy about 3 kilometres from Locri.Siderno Marina is the newer town located on the Ionian coast. It is popular with both Italian and foreign tourists and has a bathing beach....
during a bloody feud that ravaged competing 'Ndrangheta clans. 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 arrested was in 1991 for drug dealing and trafficking. 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 Gioiosa Ionica. He is a cousin of Rocco Aquino and Giuseppe Aquino, the bosses of the Aquino
Salvatore Aquino
Salvatore Aquino , also known as "Turi", is an Italian criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria. He is the boss of the Aquino 'ndrina from Gioiosa Ionica...
'ndrina in the town.
Fugitive
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 even arrived. His youngest brother, Antonio Coluccio, who is not facing charges in Italy, arrived first and settled with his Canadian wife in Richmond HillRichmond Hill, Ontario
Richmond Hill is a town located in Southern Ontario, Canada in the central portion of York Region, Ontario. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area, being located about halfway between Toronto and Lake Simcoe...
. 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.
He apparently also aligned himself with members of the Sicilian Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, in particular with Giuseppe Big Joe Cuntrera, a member of the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan operating in Canada and Venezuela and involved in large scale cocaine trafficking. Police allege Coluccio continued trafficking "substantial quantities" of cocaine and hashish from South America while he was living in Canada.
Coluccio was arrested on August 7, 2008, outside a strip mall in Markham
Markham, Ontario
Markham is a town in the Regional Municipality of York, located within the Greater Toronto Area of Southern Ontario, Canada. The population was 261,573 at the 2006 Canadian census...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, north of Toronto. He stayed at The Palace Pier, a luxury condominium overlooking Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
. He had been hiding in Canada for nearly three years under a false identity and is wanted for drug related offences, charges of Mafia association and extortion. He was extradited from Canada to Italy on August 19, 2008, and incarcerated under the strict Article 41-bis prison regime
Article 41-bis prison regime
In Italian law, Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act is a provision that allows the Minister of Justice or the Minister of the Interior to suspend certain prison regulations...
.
Links with Mexican cartels
His arrest was part of a larger law enforcement operation in the US, Mexico and Italy – known as Operation SolareOperation Solare
Operation Solare is the Italian name for an anti-drugs operation involving the U.S.A., Mexico, Guatemala and Italy, involving a major Mexican drug cartel, the Gulf Cartel and the 'Ndrangheta mafia from the Calabria region of Italy. In the operation, some 200 people were arrested in Italy and in...
or Project Reckoning in the US – against the Mexican Gulf Cartel
Gulf Cartel
The Gulf Cartel is one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico, and perhaps the oldest organized crime group in the country...
that controls the movement of significant amounts of Colombian cocaine to the United States and Europe. The operation resulted in some 200 arrest in September 2008. Among those detained were sixteen members of the Aquino-Coluccio clan. They were identified and arrested in New York and Calabria.