Police Break up US-Italy Drug Ring Run Out of NYC Pizzeria
A major cocaine trafficking ring run out of a New York City pizzeria was dismantled after a trans-Atlantic probe revealed how the Italian 'ndrangheta crime syndicate has expanded its ties with New York's traditional Mafia crime families, Italian police and U.S. FBI agents said Thursday.
At least 13 people were arrested in pre-dawn raids in Calabria, the region in southern Italy that is the power base of the 'ndrangheta, which has increasingly taken advantage of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra's disarray to consolidate its influence and operations in the United States, officials said at a joint Italian-U.S. news conference in Rome.
Three other Calabrians were arrested in New York several weeks ago. All were members of the family that ran the pizzeria in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York's most populous borough, authorities said.
The restaurant, Cucino a Modo Mio, which means I cook it my way,'' was the command center for an international trafficking operation, said Andrea Grassi, who is in charge of an Italian state police special operations unit known as SCO. Authorities said they seized more than 60 kilograms of cocaine in the Netherlands and Spain during the probe that began last year.
In the evening, the family ran a good pizzeria. In other hours they were running'' the drug trade, Grassi said.
The pizzeria also served as a weapons cache for drug traffickers, investigators said.
Police said operatives bought the cocaine in Costa Rica with cash brought in specially constructed suitcases. The cocaine was warehoused in Wilmington, Delaware, and Chester, Pennsylvania, until it could be shipped, using a produce company as a cover, to northern Europe and Italy, investigators said.
The 'ndrangheta has operatives in Australia and Canada, but this probe, code-named Operation Columbus, convinced investigators that the syndicate has increasingly moved its foot soldiers and bosses to the United States, said Renato Cortese, a top Italian police official.
Because of its blood ties, the 'ndrangheta is a terrible organization,'' Cortese said. He was referring to the syndicate's ironclad rule of relying on members who have either family or marriage ties. Family pressures discourage turncoats, a small army of whom helped weaken Sicily's Cosa Nostra, which largely chose its mobsters based on skills and not blood ties.
The Calabrian family that ran the pizzeria in New York allegedly turned to the U.S. Mafia's Genovese crime clan for financing so they could invest in the cocaine trade, Calabria-based anti-Mafia prosecutors said.
Richmond, Virginia | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
00:03:14 1 History
00:03:23 1.1 Colonial era
00:04:19 1.2 Revolution
00:05:17 1.3 Early United States
00:08:04 1.4 Civil War
00:12:57 1.5 Postbellum
00:14:23 1.6 20th century
00:17:56 2 Geography and climate
00:19:37 2.1 Cityscape
00:23:23 2.2 Climate
00:27:59 3 Demographics
00:31:44 3.1 Crime
00:33:59 3.2 Religion
00:40:42 4 Economy
00:45:40 4.1 Fortune 500 companies and other large corporations
00:48:28 4.2 Poverty
00:49:22 5 Arts and culture
00:49:31 5.1 Museums and monuments
00:53:19 5.2 Visual and performing arts
00:54:05 5.2.1 Murals
00:54:23 5.2.2 Professional performing companies
00:57:50 5.2.3 Other venues and companies
01:02:07 5.3 Literary arts
01:03:33 5.4 Architecture
01:09:12 5.5 Historic districts
01:10:05 5.6 Food
01:10:39 6 Parks and outdoor recreation
01:14:38 7 Sports
01:18:11 8 Media
01:20:06 9 Government and politics
01:23:55 10 Education
01:25:15 10.1 Colleges and universities
01:26:32 11 Infrastructure
01:26:42 11.1 Transportation
01:30:22 11.2 Major highways
01:30:30 11.3 Utilities
01:32:53 12 International relations
01:33:03 12.1 Sister cities
01:33:33 13 See also
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
Listen on Google Assistant through Extra Audio:
Other Wikipedia audio articles at:
Upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
Speaking Rate: 0.90601071634439
Voice name: en-US-Wavenet-D
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Richmond () is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Greater Richmond Region. Richmond was incorporated in 1742 and has been an independent city since 1871.
As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 204,214; in 2016, the population was estimated to be 223,170, making Richmond the fourth-most populous city in Virginia. The Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state.
Richmond is located at the fall line of the James River, 44 miles (71 km) west of Williamsburg, 66 miles (106 km) east of Charlottesville, 100 miles (160 km) east of Lynchburg and 98 miles (158 km) south of Washington, D.C. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, the city is located at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64, and encircled by Interstate 295 and Virginia State Route 288. Major suburbs include Midlothian to the southwest, Chesterfield to the south, Varina to the southeast, Sandston to the east, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west and Mechanicsville to the northeast.
The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was briefly settled by English colonists from Jamestown in 1609, and in 1610–1611. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737. It became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780, replacing Williamsburg. During the Revolutionary War period, several notable events occurred in the city, including Patrick Henry's Give me liberty or give me death speech in 1775 at St. John's Church, and the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom written by Thomas Jefferson. During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the second and permanent capital of the Confederate States of America. The city entered the 20th century with one of the world's first successful electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a national hub of African-American commerce and culture.
Richmond's economy is primarily driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, as well as notable legal and banking firms, located in the downtown area. The city is home to both the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, one of 13 United States courts of appeals, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks. Dominion Energy and WestRock, Fortune 500 companies, are headquartered in the city, with others in the metropolitan area.