Raffaele Imperiale

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Raffaele Imperiale
Born (1974-10-24) 24 October 1974 (age 47)
Castellammare di Stabia, Italy
NationalityItalian
Other namesLelluccio Ferrarelle
OccupationDrug trafficker and Camorra's affiliate
Criminal statusArrested in 2021
AllegianceCamorra
Criminal chargeInternational drug trafficking

Raffaele Imperiale (born 24 October 1974) is an Italian criminal and a member of the Camorra. He is considered by the authorities as one of the most important drug traffickers affiliated with the Camorra. He was on the list of the most wanted fugitives in Italy[1] until his arrest on 4 August 2021 in Dubai.[2]

Biography[]

Imperiale was born in Italy, in Castellammare di Stabia, a seaside resort just south of Naples. His father was a wealthy and well-known businessman of Castellammare di Stabia, who owned the city's soccer team, S.S. Juve Stabia, and built many buildings around the region. In his childhood, Imperiale was the victim of an attempted kidnapping , but managed to escape and return home safely. It has always been a mystery how he managed to escape. He had an older brother who died in 1996 and bequeathed him the Rockland coffeeshop in Amsterdam from where Imperiale began his notorious criminal career.[3] In his coffeeshop Imperiale sold soft drugs and was involved in large scale cocaine trafficking with the Dutch drug trader Rick van de Bunt.[4]

In the 1990s he was introduced by Antonio Orefice, member of the Moccia clan, to Elio Amato, brother of Raffaele Amato, at the time one of the top drug traffickers of the Di Lauro clan. During those years Imperiale began to earn millions of euros, becoming the referent of the Di Lauro's organization who dealt directly with the drug trafficking cartels in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.[5]

During the split of the Scissionisti di Secondigliano from the Di Lauro clan, Imperiale decided to ally with the Scissionisti, a position that he maintains to this day. In fact, during the Scampia feud, Imperiale supplied the Amato-Pagano clan with weapons. Yet, according to the pentito Antonio Leonardi, Imperiale was not a broker who acted independently, but, a full member of the Amato-Pagano.[6] According to the authorities, Imperiale now lives in Dubai and spends €400,000 a month to maintain his lavish lifestyle.[7]

In 2016, two stolen Van Gogh paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002 were recovered in a villa in Castellammare di Stabia, owned by him.[8]

Documents sent by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to the Dutch police exposed what would be a super drug cartel headed by Raffaele Imperiale, Ridouan Taghi (former Dutch most wanted criminal, now in jail), Daniel Kinahan (Irish reputed gang boss) and Edin Gačanin (Bosnian drug trafficker). The group was observed by the DEA having meetings in the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, Imperiale's alleged operating base. The meetings took place in 2017, however, it only reached the Dutch media in October 2019. The DEA regards this as one of the world's fifty largest drug cartels, with a virtual monopoly on the Peruvian cocaine trade and would control around a third of the cocaine trade in Europe. Yet, according to the DEA documents, the destination for all the drugs shipments would be the Dutch ports.[9][10][11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Direzione centrale della Polizia Criminale - Elenco dei latitanti di massima pericolosità". Ministero dell‘Interno (in Italian). Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  2. ^ Rome, Staff and agencies in (19 August 2021). "Alleged Italian drugs kingpin linked to stolen Van Goghs arrested in Dubai". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  3. ^ amduemila-1. "Raffaele Imperiale: la droga, la latitanza a Dubai e quei quadri (recuperati) di Van Gogh". Antimafia Duemila (in Italian). Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Stolen Van Gogh masterpieces found in Mafia's lair returning home after mobster's conviction". nationalpost. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  5. ^ Alessandro Caracciolo (25 May 2021). "Raffaele Imperiale entra nella lista dei latitanti più pericolosi d'Italia: il narcos borghese". Internapoli.it (in Italian). Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  6. ^ Tommasone, Giancarlo (8 June 2020). "«Imperiale rifornì di armi gli Amato-Pagano, durante la faida del 2004»". Stylo24 - Giornale d'inchiesta (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Raffaele Imperiale, condannato, latitante ma libero di rilasciare interviste (da Dubai)". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Italy's artful dodgers: Mafia's Van Gogh appreciation exposed". BBC News. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  9. ^ Voskuil, Yelle Tieleman en Koen (18 October 2019). "Werkt Ridouan Taghi samen met deze drugshandelaren?". Het Parool (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Taghi part of "super cartel" controlling third of EU cocaine trafficking: report". NL Times. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Bundelen cokekartels de krachten in Dubai? | Binnenland | destentor.nl". web.archive.org. 19 October 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
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