Augusto La Torre | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Italian |
Occupation | Former head of the La Torre clan |
Criminal status | In prison |
Children | Francesco Tiberio La Torre |
Relatives | Antonio La Torre (brother) |
Allegiance | La Torre clan / Camorra |
Criminal charge | Murder |
Penalty | Life in prison |
Augusto La Torre (Mondragone, Province of Caserta, September 24, 1962) [1] is an Italian criminal and former Camorra boss. Up until his arrest and subsequent collaboration with Italian justice in January 2003, La Torre was the head of the now defunct La Torre clan, a powerful Camorra organization whose vast lucrative criminal empire stretched from its base Mondragone in the hinterland of Campania out into Aberdeen, Scotland, as well as the Netherlands. [2]
Augusto La Torre is the son of Tiberio La Torre, also a Camorrista, and Paolina Gravano, his brother is Antonio La Torre. At a young age, Augusto took over from his father the command of the clan, at the time dominant in the region of Alto Casertano, in lower Lazio and along the whole domitian coast. Over the years La Torre accumulated capital with extortion, drug trafficking, control of various economic activities and contracts. For a time the La Torre clan was hostile to the Casalesi clan. One of the great strengths of the La Torre's organization was the alliances with politics, in fact, Mondragone, the clan's stronghold, was the first municipality to be dissolved due to Camorra infiltration in the 1990s. [3] [4] [5]
La Torre was suspected of having hid hundreds of millions of euros in Dutch banks, as the La Torre clan was very active in the Netherlands in the 1990s, transporting large cocaine shipments from South America to Campania via the Netherlands. [6]
His organization was also known to launder money in the Ivory Coast with the help of the former chancellor of Salerno, Cesare Salomone. [7]
In October 2019, La Torre was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was found guilty of being the instigator and executor of the Pescopagano massacre happened on April 24, 1990. According to the investigations reconstruction, the massacre happened because La Torre wanted to "clean up" the Pescopagano area from African drug dealers. [8]
Augusto La Torre has a son, Francesco Tiberio La Torre. In a 2017 interview, Francesco declared that he found out about his father's "job" in the newspapers when he was 7 years old and just burst into tears, he also explained how it was growing up in Mondragone when the La Torre clan was at its peak, saying that “you could feel the Camorra in the air. You could smell it.“ [9]
The Camorra is an Italian Mafia-type criminal organization and criminal society originating in the region of Campania. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 17th century. The Camorra's organizational structure is divided into individual groups also called "clans". Every capo or "boss" is the head of a clan, in which there may be tens or hundreds of affiliates, depending on the clan's power and structure. The Camorra is considered by the Italian Government to be the most violent and murderous criminal organization in Italy. The Camorra's main businesses are drug trafficking, racketeering, counterfeiting, and money laundering. It is also not unusual for Camorra clans to infiltrate the politics of their respective areas.
The Di Lauro clan is an Italian crime clan, part of the Camorra in Naples. The clan operates in the neighbourhoods of Secondigliano, Scampìa, Miano, Marianella, Piscinola, and in the adjacent municipalities of Casavatore, Melito, Arzano, Villaricca and Mugnano. At its peak, between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, the organization was earning more than €500,000 a day from the sale of drugs alone, making Secondigliano the largest open-air drug market in Europe. The founder of the clan is Paolo Di Lauro, from Via Cupa dell'Arco, in Secondigliano.
The Nuova Famiglia was an Italian Camorra confederation created in the 1970s and headed by the most powerful Camorra bosses of the time, Carmine Alfieri, the Nuvoletta brothers, Michele Zaza, Luigi Giuliano and Antonio Bardellino, to face Raffaele Cutolo's Nuova Camorra Organizzata, and affiliated with the Sicilian Mafia.
Antonio Bardellino was a powerful Neapolitan Camorrista and boss of the Casalesi clan, having a prominent role in the organized crime in the province of Caserta during the 1980s. He was one of the last of the old-style Camorra godfathers.
The Casalesi clan is a clan within the Camorra, an Italian criminal organization, operating from San Cipriano d'Aversa in the province of Caserta between Naples and Latium. Formed by Antonio Bardellino, it is a confederation of clans in the Caserta area. The Casalesi clan is believed to be one of the most powerful groups within the Camorra, specialising in construction and keeping a lower profile than clans that focus on drug dealing.
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The Scissionisti di Secondigliano or Amato-Pagano clan is a Camorra clan from the Secondigliano district of Naples, headed by Raffaele Amato and Cesare Pagano. They are also known as "Spagnoli" (Spaniards) because of their strong presence in Spain, particularly in Costa del Sol and Barcelona.
Antonio La Torre is an Italian multi-billionaire real estate developer, restaurateur and member of the Camorra. He is the brother of Augusto La Torre, the former head of the powerful La Torre clan from Mondragone. In 1984 he moved to Aberdeen in Scotland with his Scottish wife, Gillian F Strang, evading the authorities in Italy. Until his arrest and subsequent extradition to Italy in March 2005, he was in charge of the clan's local branch in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he managed the clan's day-to-day activities and businesses. La Torre ran eight Italian restaurants in Scotland and currently owns two real estate agencies based in London.
The Pescopagano massacre was a massacre perpetrated by the La Torre clan on 24 April 1990 in front of a bar in Pescopagano, in the municipality of Mondragone, located in the province of Caserta, Italy.
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Nicola Panaro, is an Italian Camorrista and member in the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta between Naples and Salerno. He has been on the "most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 2003 until his arrest in April 2010. Convicted for extortion and membership in the Camorra, he has yet to serve a prison sentence of nine years and four months.
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