Francesco Mazzaferro

Francesco Mazzaferro (born 1940 in Gioiosa Ionica), also known as Ciccio, is an Italian criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria. He belongs to the Mazzaferro 'ndrina from Gioiosa Ionica. The clan is opposed to the Ursino clan from the same town. He was leading the Mazzaferro clan together with his brothers Giuseppe and Vincenzo.

In the early 1970s, Mazzaferro was found guilty of exercising a monopoly over transportation in the area of Gioiosa Jonica. The court ordered him to reside outside his region of origin, and in 1972 he moved to Bardonecchia in the Province of Turin, in the Piedmont region, where lived for some time the powerful cousin Rocco Lo Presti, historical mafia boss of Bardonecchia and Val di Susa. There he started a transport company servicing construction sites and through the use of force and intimidation obtained several contracts related to the construction of the Fréjus Road Tunnel.

Throughout the 1980s, he was charged with a variety of offenses in Piedmont, Calabria, and Sicily. On May 17, 1984, he was arrested for drug trafficking. The judicial inquiry also looked into skimming off of public contracts in the Val Susa area. He was sentenced to 18 years by the court in Turin in 1987. He was found guilty of being the boss of a ‘‘mafia group’’ based in Piedmont that was involved in several crimes, including drug trafficking and illegal money lending.

The influence and power of the Mazzaferro on local politicians was such that the council of the municipality of Bardonecchia had to be dissolved in 1995 by the government. Dissolving municipal councils was common in the south of Italy, where the power of organized crime was firmly established. In the north of Italy, however, this had never happened before. The dissolution of the council of Bardonecchia marked the recognition of the fact that 'Ndrangetha clans had penetrated deeply in society in northern Italy as well.

In the 1970s, the Mazzaferro clan allied with the De Stefano 'ndrina from Reggio Calabria in the First 'Ndrangheta war. Vincenzo, Giuseppe and Francesco Mazzaferro were part of the hit squad, which also included Nicola and Giuseppe Cataldo, that killed the traditional 'Ndrangheta boss Antonio Macrì and wounded Francesco Commisso, Macrì's right hand man.

In September 1991, Francesco Mazzaferro became a member of La Provincia, a provincial commission of the 'Ndrangheta formed at the end of the Second 'Ndrangheta war to avoid further internal conflicts. The war had raged in Calabria for six years from 1985-1991 and left more than 600 people dead.

In 1993 Mazzaferro was again arrested for drug trafficking. The Mazzaferro clan was also involved in cocaine trafficking from Colombia with the Sicilian Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan. In March 1994 the Italian police seized 5497 kilogrammes of cocaine (a European record at the time) in Borgaro Torinese near Turin (the investigation was code-named Operation Cartagine). The Mazzaferros also represented other 'Ndrangheta clans in the trafficking: Barbaro (Platì), Ierinò (Gioiosa Ionica), Morabito (Africo), Cataldo (Locri) and Pesce (Rosarno).