Switzerland has always been a key destination for Italy’s mafia bosses to launder their assets or hide their cash, but recent probes show that Italian organized crime is broadening its activities in the country.
Some groups, in particular the ’Ndrangheta from southern Italy’s Calabria region, are also investing in property and businesses, as well as trafficking arms and drugs through Switzerland, sparking alarm among Swiss law enforcers.
Keen to stop the mafia from spreading its reach in the Swiss economy, federal police this year made the fight against Italian organized crime a priority.
“The ’Ndrangheta is a clear priority of the work of the federal criminal police this year,” said Stefan Kunfermann, a spokesman of the Federal Police Office (FEDPOL).
They have been “moving into investments in construction, property and restaurants” not just in Ticino, the canton bordering Italy, but also other cantons, he said.
Switzerland is also being used for “drug trafficking on a large scale” and as a hideout for mafia members being hunted by police, Kunfermann added.
He cited, for instance, a case before the courts in October last year of a trafficker who had brought more than 200kg of cocaine to Switzerland and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“He was acting under the mandate of a clan of the ’Ndrangheta,” Kunfermann said. “During the summer of 2010, several cases also showed the implantation in particular of the ’Ndrangheta in Switzerland.”
In one example, the head of a mafia clan who was sentenced to 21 years in prison in Calabria had lived for several years in Switzerland. Another member of the mafia was extradited from Switzerland to Italy after having been sentenced to 11 years in prison for arms and explosives trafficking, and concealment, Kunfermann said.
In its latest annual report, FEDPOL said it expected the mafia to transfer more of their businesses to Switzerland as they were coming under increasing pressure in Italy.
Federal judge Jacques Ducry, who this year completed a probe into ’Ndrangheta activities in Switzerland, said the gang had links in Zurich and Ticino.
In an interview with Swiss newspaper Le Temps, Ducry claimed that two financial companies — PP Finance and World Financial Services — were controlled by members of organized crime outfits.
“They gathered money that they had stolen in part from their clients by driving the two companies into bankruptcy. They then hid a part of this money and bought land in Sardinia,” Ducry said. “It’s the truth and we’re talking about tens of millions of francs.”
Ducry warned that Switzerland was not doing enough to tackle the problem.
“Switzerland is rather slow, too bureaucratic — in my view, examining magistrates need to coordinate better their investigative work with cantons and foreign authorities. The law gives investigators significant means to confront organized crime and money laundering, it must be used in a courageous and intelligent manner.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number