The Camorra's Catalan route: chickens, fruit, and rivers of cocaine. The drug network in Barcelona has been busted.
Barcelona – The shadow of Vesuvius looms, once again, over the sunny coasts of Catalonia. The Camorra has a long history, born in the 19th century in the alleys of Naples but capable of shed, adapt, and colonize global markets, as Roberto Saviano's books and the Anti-Mafia investigations recount. The latest chapter in this criminal saga bears the signature of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police, who have dealt a devastating blow to a drug organization deeply connected to the Neapolitan clans.
The toll of the maxi-operation is heavy: ten people arrested (aged between 25 and 46), over 800 kilos of drugs seized (300 of pure cocaine and 500 of hashish), luxury cars, glittering Rolex watches and more than 140.000 euros in cash discovered during nine widespread searches between Barcelona and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.
The Naples-Barcelona axis and the Spanish summits
The cartel's operational core was rooted in Spain, but its beating heart and directives came from Italy. The organization was composed primarily of Neapolitans living in Catalonia, drug brokers capable of moving tons of narcotics.
The link with the Campania "mother house" was not just a suspicion of investigators, but a solid investigative reality: the Catalan detectives in fact documented actual summits in Barcelona, meetings in which Camorra emissaries arrived from Italy to sit down with the gang's leaders and negotiate supplies.
The latest report from the Italian Ministry of the Interior's Central Directorate for Anti-Drug Services is clear: Spain remains the main hub for the importation of hashish and cocaine. And this raid is the clearest confirmation of this.
The Chicken Cage Trick and the Ferries to Civitavecchia
But how did the drugs travel to Italy? The organization had established a sophisticated and flexible logistics system. They purchased in bulk from local suppliers and then camouflaged the "snow" and smoke inside perfectly legal shipments.
If the shipment was large, the cargo headquarters would be an industrial warehouse in Montcada i Reixac. There, away from prying eyes, tons of drugs would be stowed on trucks, hidden among fruit crates, refrigerated products, and, in some cases, even inside chicken transport cages.
Once loaded, the trucks took the highway toward the French border or were loaded onto ferries departing from the port of Barcelona bound for Civitavecchia, just outside Rome. Investigators estimate that the gang managed to complete at least fifteen shipments of this type before the network tightened around them.
For smaller shipments, however, the technique was decidedly more unscrupulous. The exchanges took place in broad daylight, in the middle of the street, in the industrial zones of Cornellà and the Zona Franca. Backpacks stuffed with drugs were quickly passed from the trunks of cars directly into the cabs of compliant truck drivers.
The boss's misstep and fall
As often happens in crime news, this cartel's empire began to crumble by coincidence. It was February 7 of last year. A patrol from the Cornellà de Llobregat Municipal Police noticed suspicious movement between a car and a truck. They started a search. Three backpacks were found in the trunk: inside were 70 kilos of cocaine.
Since that seemingly accidental seizure, the Mossos Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) has begun to unravel a vast web. The investigation led to the discovery of another 180 kilos of cocaine, 200 kilos of hashish, and 10 kilos of marijuana hidden in a truck in Borrassà. Another raid was carried out in Riudellots de la Selva: 49 kilos of white powder and 307 kilos of hashish were discovered among the poultry bound for Italy.
The circle closed with a massive raid. Over 150 officers took to the streets with one primary objective: to capture the mastermind of the group. The boss, originally from Naples, commuted constantly between Italy and Catalonia, trying to remain a ghost for law enforcement. But money always leaves a trail. He was tracked down and arrested in his luxurious apartment in Diagonal Mar, one of Barcelona's most exclusive and modern neighborhoods, a living symbol of the gang's criminal prowess. His right-hand man also fell with him.
Catalonia, the “province” of Gomorrah
The investigation remains open, and further developments are not ruled out. But what is clearly emerging is how the Neapolitan mafia now considers Spain its preferred territory.
This isn't the first time, in fact, that Catalan news has been tinged with the colors of Gomorrah. Just last June, the National Police dismantled a clan-linked network that was running human trafficking in Girona. And last September, the woods of Figueres were the scene of the arrest of fugitive Vittorio Raiola, believed to be the leader of a drug gang and sentenced to over 30 years in prison in Italy. The course is set, and the battle between law enforcement agencies on the Naples-Barcelona axis appears to be only just beginning.
The news is big, but I can't say if it was explained well: the Mossos and the police carried out the raid, but it seems the network was very complex. The trucks carrying chickens and fruit crates were full of cocaine and were coming toward Civita Vecchia. The exchanges took place in broad daylight. Let's hope the trials are fair and not just a media spectacle.