LONDON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The three major Italian crime groups are expanding their operations in Britain, a top expert on such crime families says.
Francesco Forgione, recognized as Italy's leading expert in organized crime, said London businesses are acting as fronts for drug dealing and money laundering for Sicily's Mafia, Calabria's 'Ndrangheta and the Neapolitan Camorra, and are providing hideouts for fugitive gunmen, The Observer reported Sunday.
"Members of the Secondigliano Alliance, a group of clans within the Camorra, are suspected of owning shops in London which turn out fake designer goods and also act as hideouts for fugitives and fronts for drug trafficking," Forgione, former president of the Italian anti-Mafia parliamentary commission, told the newspaper.
Forgione said he knows of a financial consultant based in London who is allegedly linked to the Fazzari clan of the 'Ndrangheta, which he told The Observer is a major force in drug smuggling.
"Two suspected members of the 'Ndrangheta Aracri clan, which controls much of the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, are now based in London's West End buying up property," he told the newspaper. "They are not killing in London yet, just investing."
