In the beginning was a sailboat, Kololo II. And a skipper. Roberto Grilli was stopped in September 2011 off the coast of Alghero, Sardinia, and 500 kilos of cocaine divided into bricks were found aboard the French-flagged vessel. What betrayed Grilli was a breakdown: given the nature of his cargo, he did not launch any call for help to the harbormaster. Apparently, he had contacted a private company in Alghero, but it never went out to sea with its own means. It is not known whether the communication was intercepted by law enforcement, or whether someone wanted to frame him. The Mafia was involved. (Pictured: police seizure of cocaine on a Spanish boat bound for Naples)
THE REPENTANT SAILOR
The Messenger writes: “He ended up in prison, facing a 15-year sentence for drug trafficking, until he decided it was time to cooperate. And it kicked off what would later become Operation Middle World, the Roman Mafia investigation that sent Massimo Carminati and associates to prison, (a total of 37 people, we might add). He knew a lot, the sailor hired by the former Nar, starting with the organization’s members, trafficking and money movements. Sardinian magistrates turn the inquiry over for jurisdiction to colleagues in the capital. And, listening to his account, is prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini, to whom he says on April 20, 2012, “We used to tease Riccardo (Brugia ed.) we used to say to him, ‘with all the money you’ve made’… because in the environment, now I don’t know if it’s a vox populi, anyway from what I remember it was said that with the money they had made at Piazzale Clodio of the safe deposit boxes they were talking about it. I told them, “Be cool, you can make war with Germany.” Things like that, but we joked that in short I always told him, “If I had your money other than trips, I would make the trips and even stay there.” In short, those were the jokes.”
ROLES.
It is always Grilli who indicates to the magistrates the roles of the members of the organization. Starting with Matteo Calvio, “One of the satellites that revolve around the cash being produced by the Corso Francia gas station.” While of Marco Iannilli, formerly under investigation for Fastweb and Finmeccanica, he says he would be in charge of materially transporting cash abroad to be paid into encrypted accounts. Explains the skipper, “If I give a million euros to Iannilli, it may be, I don’t know, I tend to rule it out, but that Iannilli sòli me. Instead I think before solàre Carminati, maybe Iannilli, think about it a few more moments.”
