InvestigationThe Neapolitan Antonio Velardo, close to two clans of the ‘Ndrangheta, held several accounts at Credit Suisse of which the Italian justice was not informed in time for its investigations.
“Switzerland is becoming a country of shit… Assholes! » Antonio Velardo, on the phone with an associate, is at his wit’s end. In this month of March 2009, there is a rumor that the country he uses as a safe might relax its banking secrecy legislation. Velardo, who presents himself as a simple investor, does not know that he has been wiretapped by the Italian justice system. This 32-year-old racketeer, paranoid and gambler, is targeted by the anti-mafia prosecutor’s offices of Reggio Calabria and Catanzaro, as part of two investigations once morest the ‘Ndrangheta, considered the most powerful criminal organization in the country.
According to investigators, Velardo is an heir to the shoulder pads, these smugglers once charged with crossing the Alps with bags full of tickets on their backs. Velardo would have largely modernized this technique of tax evasion, by means of shell companies, nominees and offshore accounts – operations carried out in particular from Milan, Cyprus, Russia, and therefore Switzerland. He elaborates with his money what he defines as “psychopathic movements” to conceal its profits as well as their origin. He also cultivates an obsession he likes to brag regarding: never paying taxes in Italy.
The millions he brews come mainly from real estate investments carried out with a partner with a sulphurous past, Henry James (known as “Harry”) Fitzsimons. In the early 1970s, this Irishman appears for the first time on the radar, as the author of a bombing attack on behalf of the Irish Republican Army. After ten years in prison, he will emerge as a property magnate in Belfast. This slicker gets to know Velardo in Cape Verde – a popular destination for the beauty of its beaches and the opacity of its financial legislation. The current passes quickly between the Italian and the Irish. Fitzsimons offers Velardo 4,000 pounds sterling a week (regarding 6,000 euros) to assist him in his business. He will not be disappointed. It’s decided, these two are going to team up.
The duo creates a company registered in Ireland: VFI Overseas Properties Real Estate Agent Ltd. They target tourist complexes in Europe, buy cash and without skimping on prices. No business seems impossible to them: not even this plot, spotted in early 2007 in Brancaleone, on the Calabrian coast… A tourism development project where the interests of two of the most powerful clans of the ‘Ndrangheta converge: the Morabito and the Mancuso. Velardo cannot ignore that such an affair will involve risks never before agreed. But this “coup” is too tempting. It would open the doors to partners with immeasurable fortune…
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