The Carabinieri of the Rome Investigative Unit, coordinated by the DDA of the Public Prosecutor's Office, arrested Marcello Colafigli, a longtime member of the Banda della Magliana, as part of an anti-drug operation that led to the execution of 28 precautionary measures.
Despite his 71 years, Marcello Colafigli, known as "Marcellone" and "il Bufalo", historical founder of the Magliana Gang, was the link in drug trafficking between Spain and Colombia between the clans of camorra, 'ndrangheta e Foggia mafia present in Rome.
He was already under semi-liberty, but this did not prevent him from planning and managing an organization dedicated to international drug trafficking.
The investigation, launched four years ago, uncovered a criminal syndicate based in Rome and also operating on the Lazio coast. The group's leader, according to investigators, was none other than Colafigli, 71 years old, despite his life sentence and the conviction for the kidnapping and murder of the Duke The Lante della Rovere and the murder of Enrico De Pedis.
By exploiting his position as "guarantor" at an agricultural cooperative, Colafigli allegedly obtained the right to travel freely and meet with his associates within the cooperative, thus organizing a massive cocaine and hashish trafficking operation.
The criminal organization had contacts with leading figures of the 'Ndrangheta, the Camorra, the Foggia mafia, and with a group of Albanians linked to a Colombian drug cartel.
Wiretaps revealed the cryptic language used in drug-trafficking communications: "la frutta" for cocaine, "la verdura" for hashish.
Colafigli, despite his past and his age, had not lost his "exceptional criminal aptitude" and his "ease in maintaining connections with leading criminal figures."
In addition to Colafigli, 10 other accomplices were arrested, while 16 were placed under house arrest and 1 was subjected to a sign-in obligation.
From Lebanese to Colombian, drugs become fruit
From the Lebanese - stage name for the big screen given to Franco Giuseppucci, a historic member of the Magliana Gang—"the Colombian," "Uncle," or "Pinocchio" for nicknames. And then drugs like fruit. "Hey, the fruit's already ready, right?" or "They don't grow fruit now, down in Salerno.", they said.
This is how the men of Marcello Colafigli's group managed communications today. "Tell me something nice," he would often say to find out the outcome of meetings held by the organization's accomplices with various figures, sometimes with curious nicknames: from "Uncle" to "Pinocchio," up to "Sud" and "The Colombian," to name just a few.
From the documents it emerges that on several occasions Colafigli wanted to underline his criminal calibre, also by virtue of his membership in the Banda Magliana: "I did 40 years (of prison, ed.), with my own face, you understand? It's not like a guy like that will make me lose face.", said Colafigli.
At the end of the investigation, "the specific organizational methods of the drug trafficking organization," writes the preliminary investigations judge in the precautionary measure order, "offer multiple and converging elements that prevent the legal presumption of the relevance of the precautionary measures."
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