Italian Mafia Cocaine Onboard The Costa Concordia

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Police investigators say the feared ’Ndrangheta crime family had their cocaine onboard the doomed Costa Concordia ship which capsized in January 2012.

32 people were lost and the captain sentenced to 16 years in jail.

However the Mafia boss of ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian crime syndicate, is not happy.

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According to police officers investigating the organisation’s vast cocaine-trafficking operation, the Costa Concordia was carrying a huge shipment of Mafia-owned cocaine when it set off on its final voyage.

‘Ndrangheta boss Michele Rossi is heard saying to an associate, Massimo Tiralongo : “The same ship that made us a laughing stock around the world, took the piss out of us, too.”

Independent Ie reports:

In addition to vessels operated by Costa Cruises, ’Ndrangheta also placed its drugs on ships owned by MSC and Norwegian Cruise Lines, which travel between Europe, North America and the Caribbean, according to details of the criminal investigation revealed in La Repubblica.

Officers from the organised crime investigation group in Florence say that the drugs on the Concordia, which have not been found, were stowed aboard without the knowledge of senior officers or senior company officials, but almost certainly with the complicity of one or more crew members.

The Concordia, with more than 4,000 passengers and crew aboard, partially capsized on the night of 13 January 2012, close to the island of Giglio, after the captain performed a risky manoeuvre which caused it to crash into rocks near the shore, tearing a huge hole in its side.

In February this year, Francesco Schettino, the Concordia’s captain, was found guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before his passengers. He was given a 16-year jail sentence.

The Concordia was towed to Genoa in July last year to be scrapped in a complex, €100m operation, which is expected to last nearly two years.