Five members of a drug-trafficking group, related to the Italian mafia, were sentenced to 53 years of imprisonment by the Criminal Court of San Carlos.
The subjects used to send cocaine wrapped in cassava and pineapple shipments to countries such as Belgium, the United States and the Netherlands.
As reported by the Deputy Prosecutor Against Organized Crime (FACDO), the suspects admitted their links with members of the Italian, mafia organization known as N’drangheta, settled in the Calabria region.
However, two of the defendants chose to go through an oral and public trial.
They were also related to an Italian family in New York, which operated a pizzeria located in Queens to hide their real business: the sale of drug they received from Costa Rica.
The prosecution was able to prove that three of the defendants held a meeting with Franco Fazio, an Italian who served as a intermediary between the Costa Rican group and Gregorio Gigliotti, the owner of the pizzeria in New York.
Details of the criminals:
-Denis Batista Cuenca: Cuban person (naturalized) and leader of the gang; sentenced to 12 years in prison.
-Pedro Casas Rodríguez: Cuban person (naturalized) and the leader’s right-hand man; sentenced to 12 years in prison.
-Juan José Campos Mora: Logistics manager; 11 years of imprisonment.
-Hector Zúñiga Arias: In charge of logistics; sentenced to 9 years in prison.
-Carlos Zúñiga Arias: Logistics manager; 9 years in prison.