FLASH NEWS
Shocking investigation: 'Rivers' of drugs from Albania to Italy by ferry, heroin hidden in elderly people
2025-05-22 12:21:28 / AKTUALITET
By Chiara Spagnolo, La Repubblica
Rivers of heroin invade Bari, coming from Albania. And rivers of money swell the accounts of those who manage a much more profitable traffic than that of cocaine, because the basic substance is mixed – even with medicines and detergent – multiplying up to five times. The DIA's "Ura" operation showed that the heroin market is more flourishing than ever and that the nerve center of the traffic is the Madonnella neighborhood, today a center of tourist development and nightlife.
In a thermohydraulic company next to a primary school in the area, Massimo, described by the penitent Domenico Milella as 'unexpected', worked, serving as a link between the Albanians and the Palermiti clan of Japigia. This is Massimiliano Fiore, 48 years old, who ended up in prison together with eight other people from Puglia (Andrea Nicola Buonsante, Cesare Gilberti, Luisa Mazzuti, Giovanni Montedoro, Francesco Patisso, Annalisa Ronghi, Giovanni Signorile and Angelo Zanzarelli). House arrest has been ordered for Francesca Caputi and an obligation to report to the police for Serafina Palazzo and Domenico De Tullio.
The Italian arrest warrants — on charges of international drug trafficking — were signed by investigating judge Francesco Vittorio Rinaldi, at the request of prosecutors Ettore Cardinali and Daniela Chimienti and special prosecutor Francesco Giannella. 40 arrests were also made in Albania, as investigations were conducted in parallel in both countries thanks to the Joint Investigation Unit created between the Italian DIA and the Albanian Police. Not coincidentally, prosecutor Roberto Rossi called this a 'perfect collaboration'.
What is striking about the investigation are the figures of the movement of money: during a search of a flat, DIA agents (led by Colonel Roberto Di Mascio) found 42 thousand euros. Previously, 3 million euros in cash had been seized in Durrës: the exchanges documented during the investigation amounted to 4.5 million euros, while the estimated turnover for two years reached 7 million euros.
What has increased the profits so much is the choice to focus on heroin, which until five years ago seemed to have disappeared from the scene in Puglia, since in the 80s and 90s Japigia had been the largest market in southern Italy. According to Milella's testimony, the first to bring heroin back was Gianni Di Cosimo (who had fled to Albania as a fugitive). Then came 'Enrico', or Erigels Presi, the 37-year-old Albanian who from his apartment in Poggiofranco managed all the heroin trafficking, with the approval of Eugenio Palermiti, who was satisfied that the group did not deal in the sale of cocaine and did not trespass in the neighborhoods controlled by the Strisciuglio clan.
According to the Antimafia Prosecutor's Office (DDA), the connecting link between foreigners and clans from Bari was precisely Fiore — active both in the exchange of goods and in the organization of trafficking. Through wiretaps, investigators heard several times the preparation of drug 'panets' for resale. And they realized that the most important moment was that of mixing, where different substances were used to mix with pure heroin in a Thermomix device, where the substance was heated and mixed. For weighing, very precise scales were used — in one wiretap it is mentioned about 'a scale for a diamond that I paid 250 euros for'.
The result varied depending on the degree of mixing, but overall the quality was good, unlike the so-called 'unripe, bad banana' that was circulating at the end of 2021. The best quality seemed to be the 'caramel', with which you could extract five from one kilogram.
Considering that a kilogram of heroin was purchased by the group for 4 to 6 thousand euros (compared to the price of 35 to 39 thousand euros for cocaine), it is easy to understand how the profits multiplied as the drugs were mixed and increased.
Another element that characterized the group as an entrepreneurial structure was the division of tasks and the use of “unsuspected” people as couriers and warehousemen. Andrea Buonsante, for example, ended up accused of drug trafficking by being a bar owner, after he had made his truck with a lifting platform available for drug transport. “For this work we gave him 150 euros for each trip,” explained an Albanian. Giovanni Montedoro, on the other hand, is thought to have turned his house in Noicattaro into a dark base. When he was arrested, his associates were worried because, not being a professional, they were afraid that he might confess everything.
The narcotics arrived in Bari by ferry from Albania, hidden in the cabins of elderly people traveling in wheelchairs or in wheelchairs. While the money returned to Albania hidden in the buses that depart every day from the port of Puglia. To get around there, as someone said, 'you have to have help'.
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