They call them currency traders and they are the new front for organized crime. They are almost everywhere – in Switzerland, Dubai, Venice, Naples and other places – and have different advantages: They trade in gold, weapons, jewelry and cocaine and have only one job: to use the money wisely. Yes, the money. for years, Raffaele Imperiale's main activity was to divert drug proceeds into safe circuits. And it is precisely through this activity that an unprecedented frontier of organized crime is being discovered on a global scale: that of foreign exchange traders, of financial experts who are able to profit from international transactions.
A line drawn by prosecutor Maurizio De Marco, a judge investigating the fate of Raffaele Imperiale (the drug trafficker who stole two paintings by Van Gogh in 2002), along with his colleagues Giuliano Caputo, Lucio Giugliano and Vincenza Marra. The documents include the names of accountants and businessmen who put drug proceeds to good use around the world. How? By investing in gold and dematerializing the money into Bitcoin codes. But let's follow the prosecutors' argument in light of defector interrogations, wiretaps and cashier's checks.
Raffaele Mauriello (involved in a murder case, son of a splinter boss) explains: “The money was stored at the bases, sometimes it was also delivered to the “Changemen” by me, always on the instructions of Ursini (another Imperiale employee) ” . ” A first group of foreign exchange traders consisted of Turkish subjects; Then there was the group of “changers”, led by Mattia Anastasio, known as Bello, and Ciro Arianna, as well as by two brothers nicknamed “Zazzà”. And not only. Reading the statement of the prosecutor confirms the role of Corrado Genovese, a Roman accountant arrested in Ciampino last March. It is he who confirms his role alongside Imperiale between 2020 and 2021. up to the handover of the codes for the materialization of Bitcoins to the Guardia di Finanza: an operation “guaranteed” since it took place in the presence of a judge and lawyers, which made it possible to flow into the coffers of the Neapolitan justice system one million seven hundred thousand euros. But let's hear Genovese's interrogation.
«I have been working in Dubai as General Manager of Ciro Arianna's companies since 2018. He had a company through which he imported coffee, pasta and other Italian products to Dubai. Then companies got involved in restaurants and worked diligently to rebrand Italian products for sale in the Emirates, right up to Arianna's house arrest over smuggling issues. It is the moment when Genovese begins to collaborate with Imperiale. It was Leopoldo who brought the Roman accountant into contact with Imperiale, by then known as Uncle. First contact takes place via Encrochat, a special platform for encrypted conversations, then the personal meeting takes place. Genovese explains to Naples prosecutors: “I have an economic background, I'm an economist.” I left home early, worked in Switzerland in the gold world (physical gold trading) and then in 2013 I was in Ghana for a year and a half, where I started my own business Gold company opened and a Ghanaian boy became a partner in a mine. Then I went to Lebanon, then in 2014 I moved to Dubai with $500,000 (the result of work for the mine). I opened pizzerias here, one in Dubai Marina, the other in Jumeera Village Circle. I saw Imperiale for the first time in April 2020. We agreed to work together, it was an accounting job and a foreign exchange job.”
From then on, a life at the top, among the skyscrapers of the Emirates: “Imperiale invited me to his villa in the Jumeirah Golf Estate, we met in person and planned the job as a foreign exchange trader.” Imperiale offered me 5 percent of the income from my work as a foreign exchange trader and a fixed amount of 25,000 dirhams per month (5/6,000 euros). Imperiale moved to a new home in Emirates Hills, where he was later arrested. I saw him every day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. I realized that he must be doing something illegal to make all his money, even though he always moved around in broad daylight. When he arrived at the restaurants, everyone knew him and gave him respect. At the beginning when there were some family discussions I was rejected, then at the end when I became “family” they talked about “burdens that had to fall” and “burdens that had to pass”.. And they did it quietly.” A few more notes from the accountant: “When Imperiale was arrested, our group's cash balance was around 8 million euros, which means I had access to around 8 million euros of liquidity.” After taking Imperiale , Genovese continues dealings with his right-hand man Bruno Carbone, who is tracked down in Syria after being imprisoned in the hands of terrorists and converting to Islam, which initially saved his life.
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