investigation
How global bikie sting uncovered just how powerful, insidious ‘Ndrangheta mafia clans are

The blood brotherhoods of the Italian mafia, which have their tentacles stretched across the planet, have survived repeated attempts to smash them because of their unique and familial characteristics. A strict code of silence — omertà — and submission to superiors — umiltà — are core fundamentals. But an idea, hatched over “a few beers” between FBI and Australian Federal Police operatives, has uncloaked all-manner of organised crime across scores of countries. From Asian triads to drug cartels in South America and everything in-between. Most crucially, it provided a backdoor into the international operations and membership of the most of powerful arm of the Italian mafia in the world today - the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta. Called Operation Trojan Shield by the FBI and Special Operation Ironside by the AFP, the results have been stunning. So much intelligence was yielded that detectives are still combing through the mountain of intercepted communications and preparing fresh charges, more than 12 months after showing their hand on a dramatic day of arrests last June. Chief among the insights, as far as the AFP is concerned, has been the detailed picture of how the mafia, and particularly the ‘Ndrangheta, functions in Australia, calling the shots on much of the organised crime carried out by outlaw motorcycle gangs and others, whilst themselves remaining in the shadows. It revealed 51 clans of which 14 were ‘Ndrangheta, many following direct orders from their bosses in Italy. Four of the 14 are based in WA. After months of mapping out the network of clans including their membership, loyalties and relationships with each other – often via marriage – the AFP says it’s ready to go after them. The secret backdoor into the criminal underworld was similar to the malware we try to keep off our computers. An encrypted messaging app that seemed perfect for illicit use was developed. The app, called AN0M, came on secure phones that enabled users to text and share photos and videos, without fear of being monitored by police. “Platform developers had worked on the AN0M app, along with modified mobile devices, before law enforcement acquired it legally and adapted it for their use,” cyber-security expert David Tuffley wrote in The Conversation last year. “Once appropriated by law enforcement, AN0M was reportedly programmed with a secret ‘back door’ enabling them to access and decrypt messages in real time. “A ‘back door’ is a software agent that circumvents normal access authentication. It allows remote access to private information in an application, without the owner of the information being aware.” “Without this back door, strongly encrypted messages would be almost impossible to decrypt,” Dr Tuffley added. The next step for the AFP and the FBI was getting gangsters to show interest in it. Enter fugitive Australian drug trafficker Hakan Ayik, who is now running his criminal empire from Turkey. Ayik, a Comanchero bikie associate, was one of two targeted underworld “influencers” given access to handsets by undercover agents in the hope they would use it and recommended to their criminal associates. “These associates would then be sold mobile devices pre-loaded with AN0M on the black market,” Dr Tuffley explained. The only way to obtain a handset was through underworld networks. Users paid about $1700 for the handset and a six-month subscription, and $1250 for every six months after that. Helped by the fact that another encrypted messaging service favoured by organised crime had been shut down, word spread quickly and so did take-up of the handsets with the pre-installed AN0M app. Between 2018 and 2021 almost 12,000 entered circulation and were being used in 90 countries. Some 1659 users were in Australia. Of these 136 were in WA. The trap worked better than anyone could have hoped. From October 2018, the AFP was able to decrypt and monitor messages in real-time. Millions followed. Everything from murder plots, money laundering, drug trafficking to gun distribution and other serious crimes were discussed via AN0M. By April of 2021, AFP officers were monitoring 2.67 million messages a fortnight. Police responded to 29 threats to kill, including one that saved a family of five. “We have been in the back pockets of organised crime,” AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said last year when announcing the massive sting to the world. The same day, 4000 police officers in Australia were involved in making 224 arrests, that led to 525 charges. There were simultaneous mass arrests and seizures of drugs and guns across 19 other countries. Up to this week, 383 people have been charged with 2340 offences in Australia from Special Operation Ironside, described by the AFP as the “biggest and most significant organised crime operation” in its history. These include 34 people accused of 50 offences in WA. Some 6.3 tonnes of illicit drugs have been seized along with 69 firearms and $55 million. Outside of Australia, the operation has seen more than 700 alleged offenders charged and 65 tonnes of illicit drugs seized. There are reports that Ayik has had plastic surgery to change his appearance. “He’s essentially set up his own colleagues,” Commissioner Kershaw said last year whilst encouraging the drug kingpin to turn himself in. ‘Ndrangheta has a reported annual turnover of $82.2 billion and is considered more powerful and dangerous than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Camorra from Naples. Apart from strict adherence to old traditions and family loyalty, its success partly stems from its members staying low-key, using legitimate business as cover and getting others to do their dirty work. The name ‘Ndrangheta has been used since the mid-1950s. Members regale in its history and myths, including that the ‘Honoured Society’ was founded by a Spanish knight called Carcagnosso. In 2022, ‘Ndrangheta is considered responsible for trafficking 70 per cent of the world’s cocaine. Interpol is so concerned it has established the Interpol Co-operation Against ’Ndrangheta (I-CAN) project to help law enforcement agencies weed it out of 32 countries. “The ’Ndrangheta is among the richest and most powerful organised crime groups,” secretary-general Jurgen Stock said. “It has repeatedly proven its skill in infiltrating political and economic environments, and (has) a remarkable capacity for corruption.” The AN0M sting provided “invaluable insight into the scale of illicit drug imports facilitated by the ‘Ndrangheta, the profits they were making and how often they worked with outlaw motorcycle groups”, the AFP said this week. “In collaboration with Italian authorities, the AFP has been mapping and assessing the familial relationships, through blood or marriage of the ‘Ndrangheta in Australia,’’ Mr Ryan said. “We have identified 14 confirmed ‘Ndrangheta clans across Australia, involving thousands of members.” These Australian clan members have family blood ties to the ’Ndrangheta in southern Italy. “Our picture of the clans is continuing to grow, but intelligence suggests their overall membership could potentially be similar to that of (about 5000) patched members in Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs’, Assistant Commissioner Ryan said. “That shows how subterranean and significant the ‘Ndrangheta are in Australia.” “During Operation Ironside, law enforcement charged a number of ‘Ndrangheta members, some who were taking their orders from bosses in Calabria. “The ‘Ndrangheta are flooding Australia with illicit drugs and are pulling the strings of Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs, who are behind some of the most significant violence in our communities. “They have become so powerful in Australia that they almost own some OMCG’s, who will move drugs around for their ‘Ndrangheta financiers, or carry out acts of violence on behalf of the ‘Ndrangheta.” “They have been able to stay under the radar by living modest lives, in modest homes. They mix their illegitimate money with money from their legitimate construction, agricultural or catering businesses and all of this makes it more difficult to not only identify criminality but to prove it,’’ he added. “They had intentionally kept a low profile and avoided shows of wealth or power as they quietly laundered their profits through their seemingly legitimate businesses. It’s entirely possible that people can be living next door to members of the ’Ndrangheta without knowing.” Mr Ryan said most of the intercepted messages “involved Italian organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gangs, particularly the Comancheros.’’ WA’s next Governor Chris Dawson and outgoing Police Commissioner Chris Dawson knows all about ’Ndrangheta’s reach into Australia. He was Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission between 2014-17 in which time he compiled a comprehensive dossier of who’s who in the Calabrian mafia in Australia. The ACIC under his watch was instrumental in the arrest of mafia figure Bruno Crisafi, who fled to Perth to escape charges in Italy in 2015. While on the run, the fugitive had been subject to an Interpol red notice for international cocaine trafficking. He was sentenced in his absence to 20 years jail. He was harboured by an ’Ndrangheta clan in WA that included relatives of the high-ranking mobster. The ACIC were onto him and later found out he had had booked a one-way ticket from Perth to Rome via Doha in June 2017. “As a result of the ACIC’s work we were able to notify authorities, via the AFP international network, and he was apprehended by Italian authorities on his return to Rome,” Mr Dawson said. “The Calabrian mafia, and its role in the Australian market, is one of a number of different target groups that the ACIC, with our partner agencies, continues to target.” The clan that had been hiding him, known to the AFP as Clan L, includes family members with convictions for cannabis cultivation. Clan M is another of the four in Perth. The Sunday Times understands members have been previously investigated for international fraud offences and are linked to drug operations. They are known to bet large sums of money at the casino. South Australia and its capital, Adelaide – the City of Churches – is a base for many Italian crime families. Of the 2340 offence count so far under Special Operation Ironside, SA accounts for 1537, some 65 per cent. Clan F in SA is believed to be the most senior clan in Australia and is suspected of being involved in drug importations. From the State’s other eight clans, one has deep connections to clans in NSW and is heavily involved in the narcotics trade. Another SA clan is related by marriage to a clan in Victoria. In recent weeks, three men alleged to be linked to the ’Ndrangheta were arrested. The two South Australians and the third man from Griffith in NSW are accused of a plot to import 1.2 tonnes of cocaine from Ecuador. They’re due to face court this month. SA’s Perre family were targeted by the ICAC during Mr Dawson’s watch. “A number of those senior family figures have been charged in respect of illicit drugs in South Australia,” Mr Dawson said in 2017 when looking back at his time with the agency. They included Domenic Perre, who subsequently pleaded guilty in 2019 to two counts of trafficking in a controlled drug and one count of possessing a silencer. Perre is most known for his alleged role in the murder of WA policeman in the bombing of National Crime Authority office in Adelaide in March 1994. The 64-year-old is awaiting judgement following his murder trial last year. Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen, who was seconded to work with the NCA, died from horrific injuries in the bomb blast. Mr Dawson also had a keen interest in Perth mafioso Domenico Condo, who had been on the run since 2014 when he failed to turn up to court for sentencing. He was arrested in Germany four years later along with 84 others as part of a massive crackdown on the ’Ndrangheta in Europe He was sentenced to seven years jail for importing cocaine. He is wanted by authorities in Italy as well as WA when he’s served his time. Condo is a nephew of murdered Perth drug dealer-turned-police informant Frank La Rosa. La Rosa and his wife Kim were were killed with a 12-gauge shotgun in June 2008. Their bodies were found seven months later in a deep grave in Chittering property. La Rosa was facing fresh drug charges at the time. ‘Ndrangheta members first migrated to Australia a century ago. The AFP said it was likely they came here “for the purpose of facilitating illicit activity’’. They made headlines in 1997 following the murder of aspiring politician and anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay. He was shot in a hotel car par in Griffith, NSW, after he blew the whistle on a drug ring, which ordered a hit on him. The Calabrian mafia in Australia was also involved in the world’s biggest ecstasy bust in 2007. Customs officers intercepted 15 million pills hidden inside tomato tins which were shipped from Italy to Melbourne. The leader of the drug ring, Pasquale Barbaro, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012. Barbaro is the son of Francesco “Little Trees” Barbaro, who was named in the Woodward royal commission report as being an influential member of the Griffith mafia cell which murdered Mr Mackay. Italy’s top anti-mafia prosecutor wants senior Melbourne Mafioso Frank Madaferri sent back there when he’s completed his 10-year sentence for his part in the conspiracy to import the 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy pills. He faces extortion and gun charges in Italy. Madafferi is currently appealing his 2014 drug trafficking conviction, claiming his former lawyer Nicola “Lawyer X” Gobbo was also a police informant. Operation Ironside confirmed the Comanchero bikie gang was the biggest distributor of illicit drugs in this State. They were among those snared in the AN0M sting, thinking their encrypted messages were secure. Comanchero chief Ray Cilli is believed to be hiding out in Thailand. He’s accused of threatening Christian Tachev, a vape business owner who buried 15kg of meth in Perth bush. As part of Operation Ironside, WA’s National Anti-Gangs Squad charged Cilli’s mum, Carolyn Joy Cilli, and his sister, Sherina Lucas, with property laundering. They are accused of storing almost $1 million in illicit cash on the bikie’s behalf. Cilli associate Nikola Maksimovic’s own attempt to flee Australia, after being found guilty of heading up a multi-million dollar methamphetamine syndicate, was foiled when he used AN0M to discuss his escape plan with Cilli. He was taken into custody one day before the AFP revealed AN0M was a Trojan horse app.

investigationHow global bikie sting uncovered just how powerful, insidious ‘Ndrangheta mafia clans are

investigation
How global bikie sting uncovered just how powerful, insidious ‘Ndrangheta mafia clans are