The ’ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, plays a significant role in the global cocaine trade and is deeply entrenched in Australia, influencing the cocaine trade and engaging in a variety of illicit activities.
This group of clans operates across Europe – particularly in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands – and extends its reach into Canada, the United States and parts of Latin America.
A range of ethno-geographic criminal groups facilitate the production, supply and distribution of cocaine to Australia’s highly lucrative consumer market. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s recent report highlighted the emerging threat posed by Brazilian crime groups.
But such new players must be considered alongside the threat posed by multi-generational groups that have become well entrenched in Australia.
The ’ndrangheta operates through two organisational models in Australia, one local and one transnational. The first is the Australian (rather than Calabrian or Italian) ’ndrangheta, which has been entrenched in the country for about a century, its founders having arrived in 1922.
This group of criminal families, commonly known as clans, has adeptly manipulated the cultural values brought by the Calabrian diaspora, the second largest Italian group in Australia, just behind the Sicilian community.
The Australian ’ndrangheta is entrepreneurial and operates through complex formal and cultural structures. It has built its operations on local partnerships, engaging in the cocaine trade while maintaining a facade of legitimacy through fully and semi-legal businesses. These businesses cultivate community support and consensus, essential for any mafia group seeking power and influence.
The second organisational model is that of the transnational ’ndrangheta, which retains strong connections to clans based in Calabria and elsewhere in Italy.
This group of clans operates across Europe – particularly in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands – and extends its reach into Canada, the United States and parts of Latin America. These groups are based on transnational families and associates who can use a range of connections and brokers to secure a foothold in the lucrative cocaine trade.
Integration and diversification
The two organisational models of the ’ndrangheta raise significant concerns and amplify the reach of both homegrown clans and transnational networks.
Money laundering and business integration are crucial aspects of the Australian ’ndrangheta’s activities. By integrating illicit profits into legitimate businesses, clans mask the origins of their funds, facilitating continued operations and growth.
While the Australian ’ndrangheta has historically engaged in drug trafficking alongside local partners, they strategically separate their illegal ventures from their legitimate enterprises.
Intergenerational changes favour diversification of their business structures as families and their activities evolve. Diversification not only facilitates money laundering; it also fortifies a clan’s standing within the community, making it more challenging for authorities to dismantle its operations.
This increases clans’ resilience, allowing them to maintain prominence in the criminal landscape, even as authorities attempt to target specific activities, most notably drug trafficking.
Money laundering and business integration are crucial aspects of the Australian ’ndrangheta’s activities. By integrating illicit profits into legitimate businesses, clans mask the origins of their funds, facilitating continued operations and growth. The use of fully and semi-legal enterprises serves as a cover for these activities.
This not only poses a challenge for law enforcement but also risks undermining the integrity of Australia’s financial systems. If left unchecked, money laundering can have broader economic consequences, including destabilisation of legitimate markets and erosion of public trust in financial institutions.
Political influence
Additionally, political proximity poses a risk as it fosters an environment where organised crime can thrive. Australian ’ndrangheta clans have a history of cultivating relationships with local politicians and influential figures, potentially allowing them to operate unchallenged by law enforcement.
The ’ndrangheta can use such connections to influence local economies and communities, making it difficult for authorities to understand their operations as they may not look criminal.
The ’ndrangheta’s dual operational models emphasise the need for a response that not only addresses immediate threats but also strengthens long-term defences against transnational organised crime.
Political entanglement thus hinders efforts to address the challenges posed by the transnational clans of the ’ndrangheta still engaged in drug trafficking in Australia.
On one hand, a co-ordinated and comprehensive transnational approach is essential to effectively counter the threat posed by Italian crime syndicates investing in the drug trade. However, the existence of pockets of ’ndrangheta power in Australia gives the transnational clans an edge in business diversification.
To tighten money laundering regulations, Australia needs to criminalise certain behaviours associated with criminal groups, not solely respond to individual crimes.
Australia also needs a better understanding of upperworld-underworld interconnectivity. Australia has used this kind of anti-consorting approach to address outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Australia’s cocaine trafficking issue is complex and requires a nuanced understanding of the various organised crime groups involved but also of what happens alongside the drug trade.
The ’ndrangheta’s dual operational models emphasise the need for a response that not only addresses immediate threats but also strengthens long-term defences against transnational organised crime.
By addressing the enablers of criminal resilience, closing gaps in law enforcement and mitigating the risks associated with money laundering and political connections, Australia can better protect itself from the evolving landscape of drug trafficking.
This article first appeared on the ASPI Strategist, and is republished with permission; you can read the original here.
Picture © Ian Dyball / Shutterstock
