Italian court documents reveal 1981 plan by mafia to transfer heroin refineries to Malta

The documents, archived at Palermo's Court Building, were recently found among the piles of paperwork and statements taken by Falcone throughout the 1980s - among which were hundreds of pages related to the revelations made by the notorious turncoat, boss of the 'two-worlds' Tommaso Buscetta - which laid the basis for the historical 'maxi-trial' in Palermo which convicted more than 400 people, including top mafia bosses, Luciano Liggio, Totò Riina, Leoluca Bagarella, Giuseppe 'Pippo' Calò and Michele Greco.

Among the depositions and investigative reports, Falcone wrote that the FBI in New York had signalled that the Corleonese and Catania mafia families had merged with mainland Reggio Calabria's 'Ndrangheta' to create a US$300 million drug export syndicate to the United States.

The FBI had told Falcone about information they had received from Paul Eric Charlier, a known drug baron, but also the American's most reliable informant, who revealed to them that the then Palermo boss Franco Mafarà, had organised a meeting with him "to discuss Malta".

According to the notes penned by Falcone during his long meetings with Buscetta, and also with Charlier whom he later met in New York, it was established that Mafarà was in touch with the Corleonese, the Catania families were seeking an alternative site to Sicily where to base their heroin refineries.

Both Buscetta and Charlier revealed the name of Tommaso Agnello, the then chief executive of the Catania airport, who was to front the creation of a new private airline - Air Sette - which was to commute between Reggio Calabria, Palermo, Catania and Malta.

The plan - according to Charlier - was for the syndicate to transport tonnes of raw opium and laboratory equipment to Malta where the refineries were to be established, after their three main labs were raided and shut down by Italian police a few months earlier.

According to another document - this time by Reggio Judge Pasquale Ippolito, who later issued warrants for the arrest for 45 people who were involved in the planning of transferring the heroin refineries to Malta - it was explained that the operation was planned and discussed within Cosa Nostra between September and October of 1981.

Ippolito wrote a 188 page document identifying Agnello as the man who indeed was about to form the new airline which would have led the syndicate to export its heroin refineries to Malta.

"Agnello discussed the plan with his old friend Alberto Crepas, who then owned a restaurant and bar at the Catania and Reggio Calabria airports, who was to give him a hand by lending his name to help front Air Sette," Judge Ippolito wrote.

He added that the heroin was imported to Italy via Lebanon, Greece and Turkey, and driven by truck straight to Reggio via Trieste in the North.

Charlier's revelations were also corroborated by another FBI and Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) informer, Belgian national Albert Gillet, who happened to be infiltrated into the Inserillo-Bontade crime families in Sicily.

But the plans for the setting up of the airline and the touted transfer of the heroin refineries to Malta fell through, after it was decided that the drugs were to be processed in Turkey and arrive in Italy as a ready product.

The USD$300 million which was to be utilised for the shelved project were then converted into bonds by a Dutchman, identified as Gerard Van Dask, who took care of the financial operation on behalf of Agnello in London, Zurich and Geneva.

With the bonds, Crepas would then use them as guaranteed collateral to obtain banking facilities for all the front companies which were set-up around Europe, and which financed a series of illicit operations, including gun running.