Spanish
Bogotá, Colombia.- The Italian Federico Starnone, alleged boss and intermediary between the Calabrian mafia and drug traffickers from Colombia and Ecuador, was captured by Colombian authorities in Cali, capital of the department of Valle del Cauca, in the southwest of the country.
"Falls due to action by the Colombian police in coordination with the Italian police, the capo Federico Startone (sic), in Cali, wholesale buyer of cocaine for the Italian mafia," reported the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, on his X account.
Starnone, 46 years old, was wanted via an Interpol red notice for the crimes of international cocaine trafficking and alliances with organized crime in the Southern Cone and the Andean region.
The Colombian Police used drones to locate Starnone, who lived in an apartment in an affluent neighborhood of Cali.
Last July, Colombian authorities, with the support of Italy and the United Kingdom, captured Giuseppe Palermo, alias 'Peppe', the main leader of the Italian mafia 'Ndrangheta for Latin America, in Bogota, reported at that time the director of the Colombian Police, General Carlos Fernando Triana.
That arrest was added to the one that occurred last March, when the alleged Italian drug trafficker Emanuele Gregorini, alias "Dollarino", considered the "top leader of the Italian mafia in Latin America", was captured in the Colombian city of Cartagena.
According to the Colombian Police, Gregorini was the "leader of the Lombardo Mafia System, made up of the Camorra, Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta mafias, responsible for sending large shipments of cocaine from Colombia, Panama and Brazil to Europe".
In addition, in February, the Police also captured in Barranquilla (north) Namoussi Mounir, alias "Mou", accused of being the link between the Balkan cartel and drug traffickers from Latin America, including the Clan del Golfo, Colombia's main criminal gang.
Alias Mou was wanted via an Interpol red notice, which is why his capture was coordinated with the authorities of Belgium and the United Kingdom.
