The Amato Pagano clan used the Matrix App and names of football players

Naples. They used an encrypted messaging app called Matrix to communicate securely. To hide their identities, they used the code names of famous footballers such as Pelé, Careca, Messi, Drogba, and even Lorenzo Insigne.

This is what emerges from the investigation into the drug trafficking network busted today in Naples and its province thanks to a joint operation by the Carabinieri and the Neapolitan DDA. As many as 33 people, linked to the Amato-Pagano clan, ended up in handcuffs.

Sophisticated technologies and international collaboration

To make interception even more difficult, the criminals used Google phones with Dutch SIM cards and advanced encryption. The investigation revealed links to other criminal organizations in Calabria, Puglia, and Rome.

The money obtained from drug trafficking was laundered with the help of two Chinese citizens, who hid large sums of money in special compartments created inside a car.

In fact, among those arrested in prison is also the 33-year-old fugitive drug lordand Simone Bartiromo and, among the suspects whose request for a precautionary measure was rejected, also two Chinese people who investigators accuse of having kept 400 thousand euros in cash on behalf of drug traffickers, which were then hidden in secret compartments created in a car.

Money laundering and Chinese complicity

Thanks to sophisticated interception techniques, investigators were able to reveal details of the criminal operations and document the legal assistance provided to those arrested.

Eight warehouses used to hide drugs and money were identified, mainly in the Mugnano di Napoli and Gricignano d'Aversa areas.

The operation uncovered a highly structured criminal organization, capable of using sophisticated technology and establishing a nationwide network of collaborations. The use of code names and encryption systems underscores the criminals' determination to evade justice.