ZeroZeroZero (41 page)

Zeros like wounds through which to see the world. Zeros like abysses you could sink into.

Zero, like the lens of the telescope through which you can observe the mirage of white gold, the best cocaine: 000.

More than anyone else I would like to thank Federica Campana, who has followed this book since its inception, sacrificing her sleep and her free time. She has done it all with true passion. Her research and her analytical approach, her care and her competence have enabled
ZeroZeroZero
to grow with each new edition in every country in which it has been published. I thank her for her dedication and commitment to this work, which were contagious. Collaborators like her are a precious gift; they are what every writer would hope to find in his path: an indispensable ally, a fresh pair of eyes, another heart beating on each story, two more lungs breathing among the same horrifying mechanisms that make you lose your sleep and your faith in the world. I thank her for the work she has done on the language of the book: wherever
ZeroZeroZero
goes, and even though many readers will read it in translation, it has lost none of its original vision, nor seen its spirit diluted.

 • • • 

I would like to thank Penguin Press for believing in this ambitious project. Thanks to Andrew Wylie for our conversations and for the stories only he knows and reveals. Thanks to Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Stefano Albertini, Roberta Garbarini-Philippe, and Annalisa Liuzzo for making me feel at home in New York when I didn’t know anything or anyone and when I needed everything, above all advice and tranquillity. Thanks to Rocco Castoro and Professor Gaetana Marrone for appreciating my work. Thanks to Vice and Shane Smith for welcoming my writing and paying heed to my projects. Thanks to Eddy Moretti for loving these stories when I told him about them.

I thank Helena Janeczek, who gave me her advice on literary structure.

I thank Carlo Buga, who dove headlong into this intricate mass of stories and helped me find a guiding light among hundreds of pages. Thanks to Gianluca Foglia, a fierce and determined editor.

To the Carabinieri, the police, the Finance Guard, the ROS, the GICO, the SCO, the DIA, and the DDA of Rome, Naples, Milan, Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro, and all the ones I forgot to mention here, I am extraordinarily grateful for allowing me to read, study, and sometimes experience firsthand their investigations and operations: Alga, Box, Caucedo, Crimine-Infinito, Decollo, Decollo Bis, Decollo Money, Decollo Ter, Dinero, Dionisio, Due Torri Connection, Flowers 2, Galloway-Tiburon, Golden Jail, Green Park, Igres, Magna Charta, Maleta 2006, Meta 2010, Notte bianca, Overloading, Pollicino, Pret à porter, Puma 2007, Revolution, Solare, Tamanaco, Tiro grosso, White 2007, White City.

Thanks to the DEA, the FBI, the Guardia Civil, the Mossos d’Esquadra, Scotland Yard, the French Gendarmerie Nationale, Interpol, the Brazilian Polícia Civil, some members of the Mexican Policía Federal, some members of the Colombian Policía Nacional, some members of the Russian Policija, who have accompanied me in their investigations and operations: Cabana, Cornerstone, Dark Waters, Delfín blanco, Leyenda, Limpieza, Millennium, Omni Presence, Padrino, Pier Pressure, Processo 8000, Project Colisée, Project Coronado, Russiagate, Reckoning, Relentless, SharQC 2009, Sword, Xcellerator.

My gratitude goes to all the magistrates I’ve studied and spoken with for all these years. There are many things I could not have discovered without them.

Thanks to my friends Lydia Cacho, Anabel Hernández, and Diego Osorno, who have made a “Mexican” of me over the years. Thanks to Glenda Martínez, Malcolm Beith, Christophe Champin, Yoani Sánchez for their opinions and their commitment. I am grateful for Robert Friedman’s vision, Misha Glenny’s intelligence, and Ricardo Ravelo’s analytical talent. Thanks to Peppe d’Avanzo; we’d started talking about this book, but as cruel fate would have it, we will never be able to do so again.

Many thanks to the New York police agent AdN. He knows why.

Thanks to Mark Bray, Valeria Castelli, and the Occupy Wall Street guys, who taught me so much.

Thanks to Kim Ziegler and Rachel Love for their guidance with my English.

Thanks to Bono Vox for listening to these stories when I was still wound up in them and for his lifelong open invitation to U2 concerts.

I thank Salman Rushdie, who taught me how to be free even when surrounded by seven armed bodyguards.

I thank Nouriel Roubini, who endured my South American stories one endless night and with whom I talked too much about finance and crime.

Thanks to my followers on Facebook and Twitter: thousands of people who’ve held my sense of loneliness at bay and made me feel like I was out talking to people even when I wasn’t.

Thanks to Sasha Polakow Suransky and
The New York Times,
who allowed me to talk about how the drug trade affected the economic crisis when everyone else was treating it as a marginal issue.

Thanks to David Dannon, who made me another person for six months, free and almost happy.

I thank all the people of the Arma dei Carabinieri who manage my life.

Thanks to Manuela De Caro, always with me, at all times and all costs.

Thanks to my family; I can never forgive myself for the high price they are paying because of me. These lines of thanks will not suffice. This, I know.

And I thank you, American readers, for embracing my stories in your welcoming land. Thank you because, by reading these words, you will make them dangerous. Criminal organizations do not fear writers; they fear readers.

—Roberto Saviano

Angelo De Gennaro, gifted teacher of Italian language and culture, advised and inspired me on nearly every page.

Fellow translator Ann McGarrell buoyed me with her wry wisdom.

Patricia Caprotti, Rita Fabbrizio, Paola Inzillo, Gianni Marizza, Marinetta Piva, and Leonardo Venturini fielded a vast array of questions.

Daniel Jewiss, police officer and soldier, offered his expertise and encouragement.

My editor, Scott Moyers, provided perspective and a sense of humor.

My warmest thanks for their generosity, meticulousness, and patience.

—Virginia Jewiss, translator

The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. To find the corresponding locations in the text of this digital version, please use the “search” function on your e-reader. Note that not all terms may be searchable.

Acapulco summit (1989), 29–31, 34, 57–60

acetone, 75, 113, 118

ACP Bank, 226

active cuts, 118

Adams, Barton, 253

Adelaide, Australia, 194

Adriano restaurant, 222, 226, 236

Aegadian Islands, 230, 234

Afghan War, 269

Africa, 52, 74, 180, 187, 219, 233–34, 254–55, 291, 292, 297, 309, 312–25

Agata (sniffer dog), 345

Agencia Federal de Investigación (AFI), Mexican, 100–101, 365

Agua Prieta, Mexico, 40

Aguilar Guajardo, Rafael, 44

Águilas Negras (Black Eagles), 165

AK-47 assault rifles, 93, 100

alcohol, 376

Aldana Ibarra, Miguel, 32

Alexandra
(trawler), 180

Algeciras, Spain, 306–7

alkaloids, 113–14

Almeida, Juan, 280, 281–82

Almenno San Bartolomeo, Italy, 211–12

Almond-flavored cocaine, 118

aluminum, 332

Alvarado, Gonzalo de, 88

Álvarez Vázquez, Gerardo (El Indio), 50

Amati, Lucio, 199

Amazon River, 295

ammonia, 113, 118

Amnesty International, 71, 89

amphetamines, 39, 118

Amsterdam, 234–36, 308, 313, 334

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, 313, 314

Andean folk paintings, 327

angel dust, 113

Ángel Miguel (former Kaibil soldier), 85–90, 91

Angola, 322

Antilles, 225, 291, 300, 312, 313–14

Antimafia District Directorate (DDA), Italian, 168, 185–86, 198, 202, 205, 236, 237, 298, 300, 305, 335

Anti-Mafia Investigations Directorate (DIA), Italian, 305

Antuna García, Bladimir, 367–70

Antwerp, 291

Arbat International, 268, 277–78

Areiza, Marco Aurelio, 153–54

Arellano Félix brothers, 30

Arigon Ltd., 268, 277–78

Arizona, 53, 290

arms trafficking, 222, 272, 273, 282, 283

Army Co-op, 272

Arzola, Martín (El 53), 67

Arzú, Álvaro, 83

Aspromonte, Italy, 193, 210, 215, 341

Assange, Julian, 287

Associated Press (AP), 46, 54

Association of Middle Magdalena Ranchers and Farmers (ACDEGAM), 138

Atrium Hotel, 270

Aulla, Italy, 302

Australia, 179, 182, 193–95

Autodefensas Campesinas de Córdoba y Urabá (Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá), 141–42, 152

Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) (AUC), 152–59, 160–66, 174, 176, 184–88, 191–92

Averin, Viktor, 268, 276–77

Averin, Ljudmila, 276–77

Avesani, Massimiliano (the Prince), 234, 237, 239, 240

Ávila Beltrán, Sandra (la Reina; Queen of the Pacific), 362–66

Avilés Pérez, Pedro, 39

Awainatt, Mohamed Ould, 321

Ayala, Jorge (Riverito), 362

Ayala, Ramón, 49

Babushka restaurant, 280

Baldomero Medina Garza, Hugo, 59

Balearic Isles, 299

bananas, 309, 310, 329, 335

Banca di credito cooperativo di Ospedaletto, 251–52

Banca di Roma, 251–52

Banco de los Trabajadores, 129

Banda della Magliana, 225–26, 227

Banev, Evelin, 298

Bank of America, 252–53

Bank of New York, 250–52, 271

Barba (Beard) (drug trafficker), 230

Barbieri, Vincenzo (U Ragioniere), 175–76, 177, 182–83, 192, 194–96, 198, 199, 200

Barcelona, 331

Barranquilla, Colombia, 179, 233

Barrón Hernández, Eliseo, 369

“bases,” 115–16, 119

Basques, 184

basuco
coke, 112

BBC, 284, 286

Beirut, Lebanon, 254–55

Belgium, 291, 333–34

Bellavia
(ship)
,
334

Bellocco family, 202–3 298

Beltrán Leyva, Alfredo (El Mochomo), 47–48

Beltrán Leyva, Arturo (El Barbas), 42, 48–49

Beltrán Leyva, Héctor (El H), 50

Beltrán Leyva family, 42, 49–51

Benex Worldwide, 250–52

Bergamo, Italy, 219

Berlin, Peter, 250–52

Berlin Wall, 270, 276

Berlusconi, Silvio, 170

Bernal, Alejandro, 158

Betancourt, Ingrid, 155

Bianchi brothers, 136–37

Birbragher, Fernando, 280

Black and White Clubs, 268–69, 275–76, 277

“black poison,” 38

Blair, Tony, 132

Blanco, Griselda (Godmother; Queen of Cocaine; Black Widow), 53, 357–62

Blaus VII
(sailboat)
,
297–98, 299

Bloque Catatumbo, 152–54

Bogotá, 128, 137, 154, 173–74, 188, 191, 230, 238

Bolívar Moreno, Gustavo, 135

Bologna, Italy, 196, 197, 199

Bosnia-Herzegovina, 154

Boss (sniffer dog), 345

“bourgeois pushers,” 115–17, 119, 123–24, 210–11, 297

Boyaco (drug trafficker), 189

Braun, Michael, 63

Bravo, Alberto, 358–59

Brazil, 180, 202, 291, 307, 322, 332, 333, 334

Brembate di Sopra, Italy, 213, 237

Brežnev, Leonid, 265

Brindisi, Italy, 226

Brownsville, Tex., 57, 58

Bruzzese, Joseph, 203

Bubo Na Tchuto, José Américo, 316

Budapest, 269–70, 271, 272, 278

Buenrostro Quiroz, Mario, 62

Bumbaca, Francesco, 218, 238

Bush, George W., 156, 242

Butterfly (cocaine addict), 121–22

Buzos,
369

Caacupe-mí, Paraguay, 334

Calabria, Italy, 131, 164, 168–206, 210, 213–14, 217, 229, 233, 239, 247, 302, 330, 335, 341

Cala Palma
(ship)
,
327

Calderón, Felipe, 62, 64, 65, 70, 71, 95

Calexico, Calif., 33–34

Cali cartel, 20–21, 33, 129, 130, 131, 132, 142, 151, 152, 170, 176, 188, 189, 223, 256, 273, 280, 295

Camarena Salazar, Enrique (Kiki), 19–34

Camarena, Geneva (Mika), 24, 26

Camberos Rivera, Francisco (El Chito), 41

Camorra, 170, 217, 231, 264, 296–97, 339, 344, 346

campesinos (peasants), 25, 62, 130, 137, 156

Canada, 194, 213–14, 276–77

Canary Islands, 180

Cancún, Mexico, 66–67, 190, 280

Cape Verde, 321

capitalism, 126, 128, 129–32, 241–42, 255–57, 377

Capone, Al, 259, 286

Carabinieri, 178, 187, 188, 191, 202, 219, 238, 298, 329, 331, 333, 335–36, 344, 346

Caracas, Venezuela, 179, 220, 330

Caradec’h, Jean-Michel, 350

Caratelli, Ovidio, 346

car bombs, 46, 128, 144, 272, 273, 368

Cárdenas Guillén, Antonio Ezequiel (Tony Tormenta), 60–61

Cárdenas Guillén, Homero (El Majadero), 61

Cárdenas Guillén, Osiel (El Mata Amigos; Friend Killer), 57–61, 91–92, 93, 94, 97, 185, 296

Caribbean islands, 74, 114, 226, 283, 291, 293, 297, 298, 335

Caro Quintero, Miguel, 30

Caro Quintero, Rafael, 20, 22, 23–24, 27, 31–32, 39

Carrà, Raffaella, 239

Carrillo Fuentes, Amado (El Señor de los Cielos; Lord of the Skies), 43, 44–46, 47, 159

Carrillo Fuentes, Rodolfo, 43

Carrillo Fuentes, Vicente (the Viceroy), 43, 46–47, 60

Carrillo Fuentes family, 30, 43–47, 60

Carrillo Leyva, Vicente, 44

Carrizales, Juan Francisco (El 98), 61

Casablanca, 323–24

casas de cambio
(currency exchange agencies), 243–46

Case Celesti neighborhood, 346

Cassa Rurale e Artigiana Bank, 226

Castaño, Carlos, 142–43, 152, 153, 159, 160, 162–63, 189

Castaño, Fidel, 163

Castaño, Vicente, 163, 165

Castaño brothers, 142–43, 152

Castañon, Paulina, 255–57

Castel San Pietro, Italy, 197

Catenacci, Domenico, 222

Cat’s Piss cocaine, 118

Cattelan, Fabio, 298–99

Cattelan, Lucio, 298–99

Cayman Islands, 250, 256

Ceiba speciosa
tree, 329

cell phones, 123, 223–24, 228–30, 234–35

Central America, 158–59, 283, 296, 304

Central Office for the Suppression of Illicit Drugs Trafficking, French, 315

Cesano Boscone, Italy, 336

Cessna aircraft, 44, 317, 322

Chalk cocaine, 118

Channel Islands, 277, 278

Chara Bank, 274

Chechens, 261–62

checkerboard logo, 302, 303

Chica Med, 135

Chinese ideograms, 303–4

Cianfa di Cavallo drug market, 340

Ciconte, Nicola, 179, 193–95, 254

Ciola, Pasquale, 222, 226, 236

Ciotti, Luigi, 204

Ciro (sniffer dog), 345

Citibank London, 256

Citibank Mexico, 256

Citibank Switzerland, 256

Cititrust, 256

City of London, 250, 254

Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, 243

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 30, 43, 44, 46–47, 60, 98, 127, 341

Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, 100

Civil Guard, Spanish, 331

Civitavecchia, Italy, 345

“clean loads,” 306, 307

Clinton, Bill, 132, 154

Coca-Cola, 263–64, 311

cocaine:

addiction to, 117–22, 158

air transport of, 190–91, 198, 202, 218, 243–45, 281–82, 290, 294, 308, 312–25, 330, 345, 346, 359

arrests and imprisonment for, 62, 115–16, 165, 213, 216, 219–22, 226–27, 236, 237–40, 255–57

as asset, 73–77, 185–86

auto shipments of, 289–90, 292–93, 302

banks used for, 222–26, 241, 247–52

blocks of, 230–31, 301–4, 331, 334

brain function and, 35–36, 113–14, 120

capital for, 210–11, 220, 247–57

capsules of, 313–25

cartels for, 30–33, 38, 75–77, 125–27, 273, 294, 302;
see also
specific cartels

coded transactions in, 218, 228–29, 234–35

crack, 113, 120

cut or stepped, 118–19, 182, 230–31

dealers for, 112–24

distribution of, 22, 30–33, 58, 115–16, 119, 120

economic influence of, 119, 126, 128, 129–32, 142–43, 210–40, 247–49

effects and usage of, 1–4, 13, 35–36, 46, 112–24, 158

entrepreneurship in, 210–40

European market for, 180, 186, 209, 218, 231, 254, 290, 291, 292, 298, 302, 306–8, 314–25

freebase, 113, 120

front operations for, 129–30, 236–37, 251–53, 276–78

grades of, 112–14, 117–18, 207–9, 235, 378

health effects of, 119–22

heroin and, 213, 215–16, 221

international markets for, 210–40

legalization of, 376–77

liquid, 311, 313, 325, 336

mafia control of, 115–16, 119, 211, 217, 219, 220, 230, 236, 239, 247, 308

media coverage of, 60, 163–64, 221, 226, 238

merchandise used for, 180–81, 310–11, 327–36

money laundering for, 192–200, 222–26, 236–37, 241–57

“mules” used for, 202, 315–25, 346

overland transportation of, 21–22, 44, 52–53, 59, 61, 63, 120, 127

police operations for, 53, 60, 115–16, 208, 219–36;
see also
specific operations

political aspect of, 130, 154–57, 212

price of, 20, 21–22, 30–33, 118–19, 182, 197–98, 218, 314

production of, 75–76, 112–14, 125–27, 129, 157, 207–9

profits from, 44–45, 73–77, 118–19, 123–24, 127, 160, 182–83, 216–17, 292

purity of, 207–9, 235, 378

refineries for, 188, 198, 215–16, 227–28

seizure of, 64–65, 89, 119, 178–82, 192, 197–99, 207, 213, 218, 222, 233–36, 245, 289, 291, 307–9, 325–36, 343–47, 377

shipments of, 180–81, 222, 230–36, 279–81, 288–311, 318, 329–30

shooting up and snorting of, 113, 120

social impact of, 105–11

statistics on, 207–9, 314–15

in suitcases, 310, 319–20, 329

“targets” for, 114–17, 123–24

trafficking in, 19–21, 34, 37–43, 73–77, 80, 89, 127, 146–52, 160–62, 207–40, 371–78

tunnels used for, 40, 43, 127

U.S. market for, 34, 38–39, 51–53, 59, 73–77, 127, 289

white gold, 378

Cocaine Cowboys War, 360–61

cocaine hydrochloride, 75

cocaine paste, 126

cocaine sulfate, 75

cocoa, 333–34

coca leaves, 75–76, 113–14, 126, 227–28, 304–5

Colas, Stéphane, 300

Colombia:

armed forces of, 155–57, 166

banking in, 248–49

cartels in, 20–23, 33, 114, 127–29, 149–66, 186, 218, 255, 286, 293, 302–6, 357–66;
see also
specific cartels

cocaine trafficking in, 125–30, 142–49, 174, 291, 294–96

coca plantations in, 135, 188, 198

constitution of, 148, 151, 153, 165

demilitarized zone in, 155–56

disappearances in, 159–60

drug enforcement in, 154–66, 188–90

economy of, 128, 129–30

elections in, 154, 155–56

extraditions from, 148, 149, 151, 162–66, 221–22, 285

government of, 128, 131, 140–41, 151, 154–57, 163, 165, 166

guerrilla movements in, 132, 137–43, 152–57, 160–62, 176, 188, 189, 190

human rights violations in, 152–54, 163–64

informers in, 148–51, 157–66

Italian operations in, 131, 164, 170, 173–206, 213, 216–18, 222–23, 227–36, 247

kidnappings in, 143, 154–55, 160–62, 191, 201

Mexican operations in, 127–28, 129, 131, 152, 157, 158, 186

murders in, 144, 159–60, 165–66, 186, 191–92

narco-state of, 131, 132, 155–57, 158

paramilitary groups in, 136–42, 152–57, 160–66, 176, 184–88, 189, 190, 191–92

peasants in, 136–42, 152–54, 156

political situation in, 130, 151, 154–57, 166

torture in, 140, 160–62, 205

U.S. relations with, 127, 131, 148–49, 154–66, 189

violence in, 127, 130, 131, 140, 144, 152–66, 186, 189, 191–92, 205

see also
specific cities and provinces

Colombiamoda, 159

Colombo family, 279

Coluccio family, 185

communism, 125, 132, 142, 152, 265, 266, 278, 282

concentration accounts, 256

Connoisseur (dealer), 117–24