The 'Ndrangheta's Turkey Line: Mafia traces stretching from Slovakia to Turkey

Utku Beycan- 12punto

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported that drug trafficker Antonino Vadala was convicted in his home country of Italy in October 2024 for smuggling cocaine with a group linked to the 'Ndrangheta (Calabria Mafia).

Vadala's name became known following the 2018 murder of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak. Although the protests sparked by this assassination resulted in the ousting of Prime Minister Robert Fico, Fico was re-elected in 2023. Vadala was detained after the murder and released two days later. The final report published after Kuciak's death addressed the close relationship between Vadala and the Fico government.

A DIRTY NETWORK FROM SLOVAKIA TO TURKEY

Vadala first came onto the radar of the Slovak police in 2013. He had established a cattle farm in Slovakia using money he had corruptly obtained from EU agricultural subsidies. He had ties to mafia groups in his native Calabria.

The Slovak newspaper The Slovak Spectator reported that the owner of the cattle farm was Pietro Catroppa, Vadala's cousin. According to reports, Catroppa is a key figure in the 'Ndrangheta's Slovak cell. Furthermore, more than 10 years ago, Slovak police suspected that Vadala was smuggling drugs into Turkey under the guise of "cattle exports."

THE 'NDRAGHETA'S HISTORY IN TURKEY

Vadala is not the first 'Ndrangheta member to operate in Turkey. It was reported that Giuseppe Coluccio, who was caught in a luxury villa in Toronto, Canada, in 2008 while being one of Italy's most wanted drug criminals, also collaborated with Turkish criminal organizations and smuggled heroin from Turkey using fishing boats. Coluccio was the leader of one of the clans affiliated with the 'Ndrangheta.

Another Italian baron, Luciano Camporesi, was caught in Antalya in 2022 through a joint operation by Turkish and Italian security forces. Camporesi had been sentenced to 22 years and 8 months in prison for international drug trafficking in the "Pollino - European 'Ndrangheta Connection" case, in which 70 people were tried, and had fled to Turkey.

TURKISH MAFIA-'NDRANGHETA CONNECTION DATES BACK TO THE 1980S

Antonio Nicaso, a professor at Queen's University in Canada and an authority on the 'Ndrangheta, told independent journalist Utku Beycan that the relations between 'Ndrangheta clans and Turkish organized crime groups date back to the 1980s. Nicaso stated the following:

“Many investigations have documented the shipment of heroin by Turkish criminal networks to Calabria and Lombardy. In those years, the exchange of weapons, especially Kalashnikovs, for drugs was also documented. These ties have strengthened over time, but there is no evidence of a stable presence of Calabrian intermediaries in Turkey.”

HOW DID BARIŞ BOYUN LIVE IN CALABRIA?

On the other hand, Nicaso stated that the Turkish mafia's interest in Italy, especially regarding money laundering, is on a "different dimension." Noting that Barış Boyun, one of Turkey's most well-known new-generation gang leaders, lived in Calabria for a while before being arrested in Viterbo, Italy, Nicaso said, "unless you are in cooperation with local clans, some activities do not go unnoticed."

THE RELATIONSHIP IS NOT YET STRUCTURAL

Nicaso concluded his remarks with the following:

“Turkey becoming an increasingly important transit hub for global drug trafficking creates more opportunities for Turkish criminal organizations to cooperate with major foreign mafias, including the 'Ndrangheta. Turkish networks have spread across international cocaine and heroin routes, and the weakening of the rule of law has made the country more attractive for international criminal activities. Historical and occasional links exist between the 'Ndrangheta and Turkish groups, and informal, commercial cooperation is possible.

Nevertheless, there is no clear public evidence that the 'Ndrangheta has recently established a strong or growing organizational presence within Turkey. For now, the relationship is opportunistic rather than structural. It seems to be driven by shared smuggling interests rather than deep integration.”

Who is this 'Ndrangheta?

'Ndrangheta emerged in the 18th century. It formed in Calabria through the union of clans called "ndrina," adopting a decentralized structure. Thanks to its structure based on blood ties and family loyalty, it has remained a group that is closed to betrayal and difficult to combat. Over time, this situation turned the 'Ndrangheta into one of the world's largest mafias, consisting of about 100 families and earning more than 50 billion dollars a year.