A top drugs trafficker in Italy's
richest and most dangerous mafia, 'Ndrangheta, was extradited
from the Dominican Republic Wednesday two days after his arrest
in the Caribbean island nation's capital Santo Domingo.
A fugitive since 2011, Nicola Pignatelli, 43, was one of
Italy's 100 most-wanted fugitives.
He had been sentenced to serve 13 years and six months on
drug offences before his disappearance.
Police said Pignatelli had completely transformed his
appearance and suspect that he was involved in opening new
channels for trafficking drugs from central and South America
into Europe via the huge 'Ndrangheta-infiltrated Calabrian port
of Gioia Tauro.
Calabria's 'Ndrangheta, once a poor relation of the
Sicilian Mafia, has grown in heft and reach due to its dominance
of the European cocaine trade, investigators have said.
The 'Ndrangheta has usurped Cosa Nostra as Italy's richest
and most powerful crime syndicate with international contacts
and activities.
It has become a highly sophisticated global network while
controlling swathes of its home turf where police fear to tread,
Italian officials say.
As well as being the richest, the'Ndrangheta is also
regarded as the most impenetrable of Italy's mafias, with its
close-knit family-based organisation outdoing the Sicilian Mafia
in its ability to defeat police efforts to turn members into
State witnesses.
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