Drug trafficking: how drug gold came to Germany

In mid-November, Italian investigators took action against a suspected group led by Raffaele Imperiale – he is considered one of the world’s most important cocaine brokers. Noisy MDR his network apparently extended as far as Germany.

Last Tuesday, a message went through the Italian media: Raffaele Imperiale – for investigators one of the most important drug dealers in Europe – is said to have started to cooperate with the judiciary. Police arrested the 48-year-old, who was on the list of Italy’s most dangerous criminals, in July last year in Dubai.

From the United Arab Emirates, Imperiale is said to have moved cocaine from South America to Europe and used it to supply criminal organizations – including the Italian mafia groups Camorra and ‘Ndrangheta. In Dubai he had apparently joined forces with other European drug lords, including Dutchman Ridouan Taghi, who was the country’s most wanted criminal before his arrest, and Irishman Daniel Kinahan, for whose arrest US authorities have offered a reward of five million euros to have.

The European police agency Europol has dubbed the alleged alliance a “super cartel” and estimates that the men, together with other accomplices, controlled around a third of the cocaine trade in Europe. If Imperiale really unpacks in the future, it could be uncomfortable for many criminals. After all, Imperiale could count on a worldwide network for its illegal business. Unknown to this day: this apparently reached as far as Germany, as evidenced by Italian investigative documents MDR and the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.

The documents go back to a procedure by the Naples public prosecutor’s office. In mid-November, the local financial police took action against 28 men, one of whom was Imperiale himself. The accused are suspected, among other things, of being members of a criminal organization that made money from drug trafficking. Imperiale’s lawyer said on request that he could not answer any questions about his client due to ongoing proceedings.

Chats on crypto phones

At the center of the proceedings are, among other things, the messages that Imperiale and his alleged accomplices exchanged via crypto cell phones such as Encrochat and SkyECC. Criminals from all over the world communicated via the tap-proof cell phones until European law enforcement agencies managed to hack them. The chats provide a unique insight into the inner workings of the group around Imperiale – including how the illegally obtained money was allegedly laundered.

Apparently – the investigative documents suggest – the group around Imperiale earned large sums of money every day. A message Imperiale himself sent in March 2021 led investigators to believe he and his men made €1.4 million in a single day. To launder the money from illicit deals and move it around the world, the group is said to have used a variety of methods. Germany brings one of these into play: the gold business.

The messages exchanged by the alleged members of the group make it possible to follow this almost step by step. And it is said to have worked like this: A suspected member of the group, nicknamed “Malandrino” (“crook”), bought the gold with cash. Between November 2020 and March 2021 alone, he is said to have received almost four million euros for this. The “crook” bought the gold mainly in the Campania region, but also in northern Italy. In Naples in particular, the group is said to have bought so much gold that it even influenced its market price. The “crook” once reported to Imperiale that a friend of his trader was having problems getting new gold: “Uncle, it’s up to us that the market price in Naples is rising,” he added.

Couriers working for the group are said to have hidden the gold bars in trucks, usually under groceries such as sacks of potatoes. With that they went to Germany. In October 2020, for example, a suspected member of the group wrote to one of the suspected couriers: “The target is Cologne, a tire dealer.” The chat messages suggest that between October and December 2020 alone, the group made eight trips to Germany and smuggled around 184 kilos of gold. Most trips had North Rhine-Westphalia as their destination, such as Cologne, Wuppertal or Leverkusen. One is said to have gone to Rhineland-Palatinate.

Gold sales in Germany

A man who was not identified by the investigators, who was addressed as “Odessa” among other things, is said to have organized the sale of gold in Germany for customers. Apparently, jewelers come into play a few times: “I’m just discussing the (business) with Cologne to get the payment tomorrow. I’m standing here with the shopkeeper,” wrote “Odessa” in a group chat, which Imperiale also attended attended. And later that day: “I’m negotiating with the jeweler who offers the best terms.” For handing over the money, the truck drivers received a so-called “token” via chat. It was a photo of a numbered bill, often a five euro bill. When the driver and buyer came together, they first showed each other the token.

The money from the gold sale is said to have finally gone through the so-called hawala system. This allows criminals to move sums of money around the world almost in real time – anonymously. To move money through hawala, you visit a merchant, for example in Cologne, and give him cash. The Hawalader contacts another dealer from the same network who is based in the recipient country, such as the United Emirates. This second dealer then counts out the money in cash almost at the same time. Jewelers are often among the hawaladars: they have subsidiaries abroad and can easily move money back and forth. They often have the sums paid out in gold.

According to investigative documents, it was again “Odessa” who organized the transfer of money from gold sales. For this – according to a chat group with Imperiale – he is said to have kept a commission of 0.5 percent. In October 2020, in the chat group, “Odessa” calculates what the transaction for the sale of 21.5 kilos of gold in Cologne could look like: the group earns a little more than one million euros from this amount of gold. Odessa can exchange them for 1.2 million US dollars and then for 4.7 million dirhams. The number of a banknote also served as an authorization procedure for the Hawala transaction.

Why Germany?

The group around Imperiale is also said to have moved money via Hawaladare in Italy. Why the gold was then sold in Germany of all places is not clear from the chats. The transport alone carried the risk of being caught by the police and being caught. “Odessa and its network charged a low commission, so it was cheaper for imperials to smuggle money into Germany than to order Hawaladare into Italy,” surmised opposite MDR and “FAZ” a person familiar with the investigation. Another reason, in her opinion, is that the legal regulations in this country are less strict than in Italy.

Oliver Huth, state chairman of the Association of German Criminal Investigators (BDK), is not particularly surprised by the approach: “Italy is far ahead of us when it comes to combating money laundering,” he said. With regard to hawala banking in particular, the tightening announced by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is not sufficient. Just a few days ago, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner spoke out against a planned upper cash limit of 10,000 euros.

According to information from MDR and “FAZ”, Italian investigators did not work together with German colleagues, despite the trail to West Germany. It is unclear whether they otherwise got the information from the chats. The Federal Criminal Police Office and the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia announced that they generally did not comment on ongoing proceedings. Two public prosecutors from North Rhine-Westphalia, which deal with Hawala proceedings, were not aware of the cases.