Italians from Aargau charged for suspected mafia

As a “highlight” of many years of investigations and a triggered criminal commands, the federal prosecutor accuses an Italian from Aargau for mafia affiliation. The allegations are massive.

For the first time in a long time, the Federal Prosecutor’s office again levies charges for suspected mafia. Like her announced on Wednesday, accuses them of an Italian participation in Aargau in Aargau in Aargau. The allegations of the man are massive, so the case comes to the Federal Court of Criminal Court.

The 58-year-old is guilty of serving the Ndrangheta clan Anello-Fruci as a contact in Switzerland at least between 2001 and 2020 and has been committed to promoting the interests of the organization in this country. For the clan of Boss Rocco Anello, 64, he is also said to have committed a number of crimes, among other things: import, acquisition and storage of counterfeit money, stealing, violations of the federal law on weapons, weapons accessories and ammunition as well as counterparting against the Narcotics Act.

The headquarters were in the pizzeria

So far it has already been known: the clan’s Swiss switching point was the pizzeria Bella Vista in Muri AG, just a few steps from the police station. The Italian host, 58, who had noticed in the village as a Ferrari lover, turned out to be one of the main speakers of the Anello-Fruci in Switzerland. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison in Calabria last year.

Another Italian had entered a small company in the field of horticulture at the address of the pizzeria. He seems to indicate that indications that are accused by the federal prosecutor.

The small business owner has always been considered a close confidant of the Clan boss Anello and his brother Tommaso. According to Italian witnesses, he also controlled nightlocks that belonged to the clan in German -speaking Switzerland, worried weapons, fiddled with drugs, brought money to Italy. The garden agent was arrested in Switzerland in 2020, but obviously set up again in 2021 under conditions.

Serious allegations to the Aargau Italian

According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the accused is said to have “maintained a close relationship with the management of the organization” and used brutal methods to enforce the goals. Among other things, the federal prosecutor accuses him of “using the methods of the mafia, especially through attacks and psychological coercion or exploitation of the intimidation power of the criminal organization capable of the most hideous crimes – especially when setting up loans and protection funds”.

According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, these methods are also said to have been used by gastro companies and public restaurants in various cantons when it comes to procurement and accumulation of black money for the bypass of taxes, transfers to Italy and in connection with the company – partly via straw men – from gastro companies and public restaurants.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office determined in this procedure against a total of 13 accused. In October 2024, a criminal order for money laundering was issued against a 59-year-old Italian from the canton of Solothurn, but was contested. The Federal Criminal Court must also decide here. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, two further criminal orders for drug trafficking or violations of the weapons law are final. A procedure was discontinued that handed over to Italy, completed to a canton or in separate procedures.

Connection to the Larosa clan from Giffone

According to the indictment, the accused, against whom charges are now being raised, also played a role in working with another ‘Ndrangheta clan. Specifically, it is about the clan about Boss Giuseppe Larosa from Giffone in Calabria. This mafia family was one of the goals of the “Cavalli di Razza” operation in November 2021. The clan had also installed extremely strongly in Switzerland for years, especially in the regions of Winterthur, Zurich, St.Gallen, Graubünden and Ticino. He operated With a control center in Zurich, a kind of cocaine axis through Switzerland.

The accused is also said to have supported the Larosa clan. « According to the indictment, » he is said to have made this support by acting as an intermediary in the narcotics and arms trade and made it available for the sale of weapons « .

The man is further accused of « the Swiss administrative authorities have deceived » to enable a member of the clans to « settle in Switzerland and thus facilitate the practice of criminal activities ».

Raids five years ago in Italy and Switzerland

The background is in particular the huge anti-mafia surgery “Imponimento” almost five years ago, which was directed against the ‘Ndrangheta clan of the Anello-Fruci in Calabria. After years of investigation, the law enforcement agencies in Italy and Switzerland arrested a total of 75 people on July 21, 2020 and made assets of 170 million euros. In the cantons of Aargau, Solothurn, Zug and Ticino, house searches were carried out, as the federal prosecutor said at the time.

As early as 2022, another confidante of the clan bosses, a relative of the small business owner from Muri AG, had been convicted in the abbreviated procedure. He received almost eleven years in prison. The man had lived in Switzerland for decades, first in Aargau, then in Grancia in Ticino, where he worked as a community employee and apparently moved into an IV participation pension. A third “Swiss” was also convicted: this man was registered in Oftringen AG. He received almost three years from the appellate court. In the first instance, he had received eleven years.

Not least thanks to a hidden investigator, which the Federal Office for Police Fedpol inserts into the clan, very many details about the connections and activities of the bandits in Switzerland are known. This also showed that the clan bosses Rocco and Tommaso Anello regularly showed up in Aargau.

Court in Italy: Anello-Fruci clan since 2004 operational

The Italian judiciary had charged a total of 147 people. Some were acquitted, most of them were convicted. Boss Rocco Anello received 20 years in the abbreviated procedure, his brother Tommaso in ordinary procedures for 30 years.

A total of 65 people were convicted in the abbreviated procedure in early 2022. In the ordinary procedure in June 2024, 48 people were convicted, 25 were acquitted. In the associated written judgment of December 2024, the court in Calabria formally declared the Anello-Fruci Cosca to be a mafia clan. This has been « operational since 2004 to the present day ». The gang has such a great intimacy and submission that the Boss Rocco Anello only has to give its name to make people compliant.