Italian Mafia Drug Raid: 24 Arrested in U.S. and Italy

A major Trans-Atlantic Italian Mafia drug smuggling operation was raided early Tuesday morning. The raid targeted both New York members and Italy members. Right after mid-night on Monday or (Tues morning) undercover agents raided locations in Brooklyn, while undercover agents across the ocean raided locations in Italy.

In all, 24 men were arrested, some were even said to be the head of the powerful U.S. Mafia Family, the Gambinos.

The Calabria based 'Ndrangheta Mafia which is much like the Sicilian Mafia, the Cosa Nostra, has been bridging an alliance in America with U.S. mafias to traffic drugs and guns into the U.S.using such avenues like South America.

The undercover operation used wire taps, computer e-mails, and undercover agents to infiltrate the mafia group that were using fruit companies as a cover to smuggle drugs into Italy and back out to America.



In the process of the undercover operation coded "Operation New Bridge" they were tracking plans that the 'Ndrangheta mafia had to smuggle in 500kg of cocaine from Guyana to Italy to be cut distributed to different customers including ones in the U.S.


The value of the 500kg or 1000 pounds would of had an estimated street value, after being cut, of about $1 billion.

U.S. attorney Marshall Miller said, "The raid struck at the heart of the Italian Mafia Crime Syndicate."

" The IceMan” Richard Kuklinski - The Mafia Hit-Man

As a confessed contracted killer, The IceMan is said to have knocked off around 200 people or more. He worked with the Gambino Crime family, working under another crazed made member of the Mafia, Roy DeMeo. Together they worked out of a social club nicked named "The House of Horrors". A fitting name for a place that held the event of murder on a regular basis.

Like most Mafia hitmen, Kuklinski also worked alone. His murdering was not just business, but also personal. In-fact, some of his first murders had nothing to do with the Mafia. Some of which that include burning a guy to death outside of a bar for mouthing off to him and whacking people that owed him money for playing him in games of pool.


Kuklinski was true hitmen material, he lived a double life where his family knew nothing about what he did for money. His wife did say, "she did not know what he was up to, but knew not to ask."

The FBI would eventually catch up to him by wiring him and getting him to accept a contract deal. He was later was convicted of 5 counts of murder and sentence to life +.

In his years in prison he enjoyed some fame by telling his story. He was documented not once but twice by HBO and was able to tell his story to a second party for a book.

Kuklinski's confessions, may be the closest the FBI would ever get to knowing what happen to the most suspicious disappearance in America history. Kuklinski claims he an five other men abducted Hoffa and killed him, but there is not enough evidence to put any proof to he's claims.

In Kuklinski's confessions, he blames his ability to detach emotionally from his victims, because of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.

In fact, the only time Kuklinski's showed any emotion throughout the confessions of his life of murdering was when he talked about his wife and kids.

Kuklinski died in prison of naturally causes at the age of 70. His death till this day is a little bit of a mysteries, some actually believed he was whacked due to the fact that he was supposed to take the stand against the famous Sammy the Bull for murder, in turn those charges were dropped. 

A 6 foot 5 inch crazy sociopath, with an a abusive father and temper. The Iceman was a perfect hitman.

The Gambino's Family Muscle: Roy Demeo

Although not a boss or an under boss, Roy DeMeo is an important part of the Gambino Family.  During the 1970s, he was Paul Castellano's most trusted hit man; an ex-butcher who had the murder and disposal of "problems" down to an exact science. 

He was so good at his job even Castellano feared him, only meeting with him in person only if it was a must.  While he was a contract killer, he was also a legit nut job, and possibly a serial killer, as his and his crews 200+ victim body count stood to prove no remorse. 

Not only did he kill mobsters, he also killed those who were in the way.  He took real pleasure in killing, and dismembering bodies.  Another thing which made DeMeo a likely candidate for the "Serial Killers Hall of Fame" was his MO.  He would seldom deviate from his "assembly-line" methods, which he had converted from those of the butcher shop.  DeMeo would first shoot his victims in the head or stab them in the heart,  bleed them in the shower, then he would cut up the bodies into smaller "manageable" chunks, shove them into boxes to be disposed of at random locations.   

Roy DeMeo and his crew would carry out these gruesome killings in a clubhouse nicknamed "The Horror Hotel", sometimes eating their dinner while the bodies were being drained of blood in the shower.  But this type of activity that got more and more violent, and erratic, murdering for just about any reason they saw fit and it would eventually bring heat from his superiors, mainly Big Paul Castellano. 

Paul realized that DeMeo was drawing too much attention on from authorities so he put out a contract on him asking Nino Gaggi, DeMeo's closest friend and "collaborator", to take care of things.  Shortly thereafter, Roy DeMeo's body was found stuffed in the trunk of his car. Not since Albert Anastasia had the Gambino Family had such a vicious individual within its ranks, for DeMeo was not only a hit man, he was the authority on contract killing.

DeMeo was the muscle for Paul Castellano, his crew knew how to get get rid of people, they knew how to get the job done, get the job done right and make people disappear. But like with most mobster hit men, Demeo turned out to be more then what Paul could control and needed him gone to protect his family and himself.