Detained one of the most wanted men in Italy: Money laundering, drugs and stolen paintings by Van Gogh – Topka

Raffaele Imperiale, the 46-year-old alleged leader of the Naples mafia syndicate Camorra, ended up in the hands of the police on August 4. He is in custody in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until Italy completes the steps necessary to extradite him. The Italian authorities launched a search in January 2016 for allegations of money laundering and international drug trafficking. He was considered one of the most dangerous Italians escaping the law, the AP agency wrote.

“He has managed to build an impressive network of international drug trafficking, especially cocaine,” said Italian police. According to investigators, Imperiale engaged in drug trafficking two decades ago as an “international mediator” with contacts in influential Camorra clans who survived violent disputes between Neapolitan mobsters. According to the Italian media, Imperiale lived for ten years in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he allegedly managed drug supplies to Italy, and then moved to Madrid and eventually Dubai. He himself made no secret of the fact that he has lived in this emirate for several years.

In 2016, Italian financial police found two Van Gogh paintings hidden in a house on his property in his hometown of Castellamare di Stabia, Naples, which they stole from a museum in Amsterdam in 2002. This year, Imperiale gave an interview to the Neapolitan daily Il Mattino, in which he denied any connection with theft at the museum and claimed that he had bought the paintings, as the price was advantageous and he is an avid art lover.

According to investigators, Italian mobsters with a lot of money from drug trafficking are increasingly investing in art, real estate and legitimate businesses such as hotels, restaurants and pharmacies. Shortly before Van Gogh’s paintings were found, the Italian financial police confiscated about 40 homes in Spain, which she said Imperiale had obtained with illegal income. In 2013, his close associate in charge of cocaine imports from Venezuela was detained, leading to the detention of 1,330 kilograms of the drug in Paris.