Walliser with Permis B and confidante of Messina Denaro

Toni L. was a confidante of Mafia bosses such as Messina Denaro and exponent of the new “entrepreneur mafia”. It is also said to have organized a huge tax fraud from Switzerland.

The man is called Antonio « Toni » L*, 51. last November he was arrested as part of the « Moby Dick » operation, which was under the direction of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (Eusta) in Milan and Palermo.

L. is considered one of the heads of a criminal joint venture between the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra. According to the Eusta, the gang becomes a VAT fraud of 520 million euros laid down.

Residence permit in the canton of Valais

L. also operated from Switzerland, as research by Ch Media show. According to the insider, he was one of at least three people with a mafia background who had a residence permit, a so-called Permis B, in the canton of Valais from the beginning of 2015.

The mafioso had a fictitious job in a mailbox company in the Unterwallis, which belonged to the boss of one of the most powerful clans in the Cosa Nostra: Giuseppe Calvaruso, called « The Geometer ». Toni L. was employed in the Unterwalliser Mafia-AG as a “developer” of a tourism project: a kite at the sicilian west coast. With the project, the Mafia invested money in tourism facilities. The money had previously been closed to Italy by false evidence from China via Switzerland.

At least one of the arrested is a Swiss with relationships with the eastern states. According to research, he ran a trade company in Zug.

Monster fraud with cell phone and airpods – also via Switzerland

According to the European prosecutor, the procedure showed that « people with connections to several mafia clans invested in a criminal syndicate that built up an extremely lucrative system for tax evasion. » According to Italian media, L. ensured, among other things, the connection of the Cosa Nostra to Camorra.

In order to pull through VAT fraud, the United Mafia in Italy founded countless companies in EU countries as well as in third countries such as Switzerland or Emirates.

Through the companies, expensive and compact goods such as cell phones or airpods were moved back and forth across national borders. In the fraud chain there are so -called “Missing Trader”, who buy the goods, but then immediately disappear or go bankrupt before fulfilling their tax liability.

Among other things, the chain also includes “real” companies that work with the mafia. They apply for the reimbursement of VAT for national tax authorities, as the European public prosecutor’s office carried out.

“The degree of complexity and efficiency of this criminal syndicate“ is “unprecedented”, the investigators stated. « Between 2020 and 2023, it issued invoices for the sale of airpods, laptops and other electronic goods worth over 1.3 billion euros. »

Rising to the economic criminal

Moby Dick was a « groundbreaking investigation » for her, the European public prosecutor said. In addition to the enormous damage that arises from the fraud, « that there are no two separate criminal worlds »: The world of « really bad and dangerous criminals that smuggle drugs and do human trafficking » is also « the world of economic criminals that » just « corrupt and wash money ».

Toni L. seems to be a kind of incarnation of these two worlds, which is only one. The man was once an exponent of the brutal mafia in the streets of Palermo. According to the newspaper Giornale di Sicilia, he himself said in dismissed talks that he had decided to « give up the street crime » and « to turn to the entrepreneurial mafia » « which was a safer business ».

The indictment against L. states that he actually « shifted to an activity with more entrepreneurial features ». This has become possible because the mafia is no longer just a violent organization, but a commercial enterprise that gives its members financial well -being.

Sponsor of one of Paolo Borsellino’s killers

According to Italian court files, L. comes from a family rooted in the mafia. When he was ten years old, his father fell victim to an internal settlement; The body was never found. The mother of L. then entered into « a sentimental relationship » with the Boss Lorenzo Tinnirello, who was supposed to be the sponsor of « Toni ».

Tinnirello is considered the hitch of the particularly brutal boss Toto Riina. He has been in custody since 1994 and is held responsible for 100 murders. He belonged to the command, which committed the 1992 bombattary, where prosecutor Paolo Borsellino and five of his bodyguards died. Thanks to Tinnirello, L. had access to the innermost circle of the Cosa Nostra, up to the late Boss Matteo Messina Denaro.

The presumption of innocence applies.