Thread by @OCCRP

NEW: The ’Ndrangheta may have Italian roots, but its cocaine business is global.

In this two-part series, OCCRP and @irpinvestigates reveal how the criminal group imports cocaine from Latin America into Europe.

Story 1: The European operation 1/
occrp.org/en/ndrangheta/…

Authorities assert that at the center of the ‘Ndrangheta’s European cocaine empire were Sebastiano Giorgi, a restauranteur based in Germany, and a number of his relatives.

Together, the Giorgis played a key role in connecting drug cartels in Latin America w/ European buyers. 2/

Most of the Giorgis' cocaine arrived via European cities like Antwerp, the largest fruit-handling port on the continent.

Fresh produce needs to be processed quickly due to its short shelf-life, making food hauls and similar shipments the ideal vessels for concealing drugs. 3/

The Giorgi clan was in direct contact with sellers in Latin America.

Wiretapped conversations show how they and their associates guaranteed one shipment by detaining a man connected to Colombian suppliers — a human collateral system often agreed to in the underworld. 4/

As cover for their activities, the Giorgis used an import-export company and restaurants — including one with less than stellar TripAdvisor reviews.

Behind the facade, police say, food trucks run by the Giorgis moved cocaine from port cities into the European interior. 5/

The Giorgis had long relied on EncroChat phones, using encryption tech that European authorities only recently dismantled.

Although their EncroChat phones had not yet been compromised, some of them read their text conversations out loud in spaces Italian police had bugged. 6/

Today’s investigation is part one of a two-part series into the ‘Ndrangheta’s cocaine empire.

Following our European revelations, story 2 will reveal the inner workings of the group’s operations in Latin America. Stay tuned. occrp.org/en/ndrangheta/