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‘Major Mafia Roundup’ in New York and Italy Arrests in New York and Italy Thwart Mob Drug Scheme, Authorities Say
(about 9 hours later)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Italian national police have arrested two dozen people in New York and Italy as part of an organized-crime investigation into cocaine and heroin trafficking from southern Italy to the United States, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday. The mobsters, from the Calabria region of Italy, wanted a foothold in the underworld of New York City and thought their success smuggling drugs into Europe would serve them well on this side of the Atlantic.
The investigation is centered on the ‘Ndrangheta, the Mafia group from the Calabria region of Italy, which had begun to establish a foothold in New York City, according to officials. The charges include narcotics trafficking, money laundering and firearms offenses. Their methods were known to be precise.
The defendants include a Brooklyn resident, Franco Lupoi, whose father-in-law was described by the authorities as a member of the ‘Ndrangheta. “They put a hundred grams, two hundred grams in each fish” and “it takes a day to defrost and then it takes a day to take out,” Franco Lupoi, said, according to prosecutors who say the conversation was recorded by investigators.
In 2012, the father-in-law, Nicola Antonio Simonetta, visited Mr. Lupoi in Brooklyn to work on plans to ship heroin into the United States, the authorities said. For suppliers, they intended to rely on Mexican drug cartels in Guyana, who would conceal narcotics in frozen food containers aboard ships operated by a Guyanese company, the authorities said. On Tuesday, federal authorities announced the arrests of Mr. Lupoi, the owner of a Brooklyn bakery, and six other people in New York on charges that included narcotics trafficking and money laundering and that were the culmination of a two-year undercover F.B.I. investigation. In Italy, the police announced the arrests of 17 people in connection with the investigation.
The scheme included paying off a port official in Calabria whom they expected to look the other way. But the plan got off to a rocky start when $7 million of cocaine originating from the shipping company was seized in Malaysia, the authorities said. The drugs were found in containers full of pineapples and coconut milk. What made the case remarkable were not the charges but the defendants’ links to the ’Ndrangheta, the organized crime group based in Calabria that is notorious for kidnappings and for its success importing cocaine into Europe.
At one point in the investigation, Mr. Lupoi and another suspected ‘Ndrangheta member, Raffaele Valente, sold a sawed-off shotgun to an undercover F.B.I. agent at a bakery in Brooklyn, the authorities said. In one conversation, intercepted by an Italian wiretap, Mr. Valente said that he had a group of well-armed men whose position in New York was as secure as “Fort Knox,” according to a news release issued by the office of the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Loretta E. Lynch. Prosecutors said the actions of Mr. Lupoi and the other local defendants suggested that ’Ndrangheta (pronounced n-DRANG-gay-tah) was seeking to expand to New York, an effort the authorities said they had not seen until this investigation. “We put an end to the ’Ndrangheta’s attempts to gain a foothold in New York,” Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, said on Tuesday.
As a result of the case, Ms. Lynch said, “the ‘Ndrangheta’s efforts to gain a foothold in New York have been dealt a lasting blow.” Central to that plan was Mr. Lupoi, 44, owner of the Royal Crown Bakery on 14th Avenue in Bensonhurst, who prosecutors said was linked to the Gambino crime family. Mr. Lupoi’s father-in-law is a member of the ’Ndrangheta, prosecutors wrote, and Mr. Lupoi “exploited those underworld connections to link his criminal associates in New York with those in Calabria, forming conspiracies to traffic heroin and cocaine.”
At least seven of the arrests were made overnight in the New York area; they are expected to be arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn later on Tuesday. In 2012, Mr. Lupoi’s Italian father-in-law, Nicola Antonio Simonetta, visited Brooklyn and the two men began plans to ship heroin into the United States and expand cocaine shipments to Europe, the authorities said. The scheme included paying off a port official in Calabria whom they expected to look the other way. The cocaine would come from Mexican drug cartels in Guyana, which would conceal narcotics in frozen fish aboard ships operated by a Guyanese company, the authorities said.
The F.B.I.'s New York office broke the news on Tuesday morning by posting on Twitter that it was carrying out a “major mafia roundup.” But the shipping company they intended to use received some unwanted attention in Malaysia: $7 million worth of cocaine hidden in shipping containers among pineapples and coconut milk was seized there, prosecutors said.
Court papers suggest that in recent days the enterprise was quite active. On Jan. 31, one of the defendants, Raffaele Valente, 42, sold an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent a handgun and silencer at the bakery owned by Mr. Lupoi, prosecutors said. And Mr. Valente was planning to unload $1 million in counterfeit American currency in the coming days, prosecutors said.
Joseph Mure, a lawyer for Charles Centaro, another suspect, said he was a deliveryman. Calls and emails to the other suspects’ lawyers were not immediately answered. The seven suspects arrested in the New York area all pleaded not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
Mr. Mure said of his client, “It appears as though he does not have any involvement with these drugs or guns. 
“Does he know these guys in Italy? I don’t think he had any dealing with any of them. When you live in a neighborhood such as Brooklyn, you sometimes know certain people. You know people who get picked up in a case, but you may not necessarily be involved.”