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43-458: Gioia Tauro has been continuously inhabited for more than 2500 years. The remains are a little further inland in the old town of Gioia Tauro on a rise overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea . The renowned ancient poet Stesichorus (630-555 BC) was born there. It was established by Greeks from Zancle and was occupied by Locri in the 6th c. BC. It was one of the smaller ancient Greek centres among

86-617: A higher throughput of 4.05 million  TEU . In 2002 more than one-third of national traffic went through the seaport; it specializes in transshipment activities, replacing the port of Malta as the node for overseas traffic to and from the US and the Far East . The Medcenter Container Terminal (Medcenter, Contship ) is the main operator working in the port. According to a 2006 report, Italian investigators estimate that 80% of Europe's cocaine arrives from Colombia via Gioia Tauro's docks. The port

129-449: A number of smaller islands like Capri , Elba , Ischia , and Ustica . The maximum depth of the sea is 3,785 metres (12,418 ft). The Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet; therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes, such as Mount Marsili , are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the southern part of

172-601: Is a back-arc basin that formed due to the rollback of the Calabrian slab towards South-East during the Neogene . Episodes of fast and slow trench retreat formed first the Vavilov basin and, then, the Marsili basin. Submarine volcanoes and the active volcano Mount Stromboli formed because trench retreat produces extension in the overriding plate allowing the mantle to rise below

215-549: Is a lawyer. The mayors were accused of employing the younger Piromalli. Police believe the legal work was a front to enable the Piromallis to regain a slice of the business generated by the port of Gioia Tauro. [REDACTED] Media related to Gioia Tauro at Wikimedia Commons Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea ( / t ɪ ˈ r iː n i ən , - ˈ r eɪ -/ , tih- REE -nee-ən ,- RAY - ; Italian : Mar Tirreno [mar tirˈrɛːno] or [-ˈreː-] )

258-619: Is also involved in the illegal arms trade . These activities are controlled by the 'Ndrangheta. In 2014 the US FBI and the Italian police made arrests in a joint operation aimed at smashing a new trafficking route for drugs and weapons that officials said had brought together the Gambino crime family of New York and the 'Ndrangheta . It was alleged that representatives of the criminal organisations discussed plans to ship cocaine and heroin from Gioia Tauro to

301-472: Is mafia-influenced, from the management of distribution and forwarding to customs control and container storage." The extortion of Ravano and Contship was part of a project that "did not involve simply this security tax, which grew with the port, but also control of activities tied to the port, the hiring of workers, and relations with port unions and local institutions". "It effectively eliminated legitimate competition from companies not influenced or controlled by

344-648: Is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy . It is named for the Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. The sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia (to the west), the Italian Peninsula (regions of Tuscany , Lazio , Campania , Basilicata , and Calabria ) to the north and east, and the island of Sicily (to the south). The Tyrrhenian Sea also includes

387-572: The Ionic coast and Domenico Mico Tripodo , the boss of the city of Reggio Calabria , the elder Piromalli brother Mommo formed a sort of triumvirate since the beginning of the 1960s until the outbreak of the First 'Ndrangheta war in the mid-1970s. Their senior position was recognized by all other family chiefs and their advice was in most cases followed without protest. When Girolamo Piromalli died of natural causes in 1979, his brother succeeded him as head of

430-658: The Molè family , also from Gioia Tauro. Often they are referred to as the Piromalli-Molè clan. The Piromalli clan contains more than 200 members. The Piromalli-Molé clan was involved in a bloody feud with the Ventre-Carlino clan in the 1950s, in which Antonino Piromalli, a brother of Girolamo Mommo Piromalli , was killed in 1956. The clan rose to prominence under the rule of the brothers Mommo Piromalli and Giuseppe "Peppe" Piromalli . Together with Antonio Macrì from Siderno on

473-651: The "Sea of the Etruscans". Islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea include: The main ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy are: Naples , Palermo , Civitavecchia ( Rome ), Salerno , Trapani , and Gioia Tauro . There is also Bastia , located in Corsica . Note that even though the phrase "port of Rome" is frequently used, there is in fact no port in Rome. Instead, the "port of Rome" refers to

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516-529: The 'Ndrangheta clan from its rural base to an entrepreneurial criminal organisation assuming dominance over several public works in the Gioia Tauro area, particularly in the construction and operation of the new container seaport. When in 1974 businesses involved in the expansion of the port and steelworks in Gioia Tauro offered a three per cent kickback to be left in peace the three leading 'Ndrangheta families at

559-530: The Alvaro, Mammoliti , Molè, and Piromalli families. Gioia Tauro's former mayor and deputy mayor, Giorgio Dal Torrione and Rosario Schiavone, were arrested on mafia charges on October 13, 2008. Both had been forced to step down in April, when the city council was dissolved on suspicion of mafia infiltration. 'Ndrangheta boss Gioacchino Piromalli was arrested as well, along with his nephew, also named Gioacchino Piromalli, who

602-543: The Contship company, through its president Enrico Ravano, to pay a kickback of US$ 1.50 for each transshipped container, about half of the net profits earned by the two companies. In February 2008 the parliamentary Antimafia Commission concluded that the 'Ndrangheta "controls or influences a large part of the economic activity around the port and uses the facility as a base for illegal trafficking." In its report it said that "the entire gamma of internal or sub-contracted activities

645-580: The Gioia Tauro container hub has allowed the Piromalli clan to dominate not only the illegal drug trade but also arms and other contraband smuggling. Within the Piromalli organization the Molè clan is responsible for drug trafficking and handles relations with 'Ndrangheta branches in central and northern Italy as well as with Colombian drug cartels. A turf war between the two clans surfaced in February 2008 when Rocco Molè

688-415: The Piromalli clan, reinforcing the clan’s power in the Gioia Tauro plain.” In February 2008 the parliamentary Antimafia Commission concluded that the ‘Ndrangheta “controls or influences a large part of the economic activity around the port and uses the facility as a base for illegal trafficking.” In its report it said that “the entire gamma of internal or sub-contracted activities is mafia-influenced, from

731-422: The Piromalli family, which dominated the area where the steelwork was supposed to be built. The managers of the consortium responsible for the completion of the port and the steelworks made Gioacchino Piromalli an official associate – the company subsequently did not suffer from extortion or inflicted damage of any kind in an area where the previous 154 explosive attacks were committed. The 'Ndrangheta exploited

774-507: The Piromalli’s obliged the Medcenter company, through its vice president Walter Lugli , and the Contship company, through its president Enrico Ravano , to pay a kickback of US$ 1.50 for each transhipped container, a sum which corresponded to about half the net profits earned by the two companies. Additionally, the Piromalli’s desired contracts, subcontracts, and jobs in the two firms that run

817-600: The United States, selling more than 1.3 kilograms (2.9 lb) of heroin to an FBI undercover agent, thinking it would be distributed across the United States. A mafia expert said that the US mafia understood that the Sicilian Cosa Nostra had been so weakened that it allowed the 'Ndrangheta to rise. “In the 1970s, the Christian Democratic Italian Government (with the active encouragement of

860-412: The clan bosses, Gioacchino Piromalli, was arrested along with his nephew, also named Gioacchino Piromalli, who is a lawyer, as well as Gioia Tauro's former mayor and deputy mayor. Both had been forced to step down in April 2008 when the city council was dissolved on suspicion of Mafia infiltration. The mayors were accused of employing the younger Piromalli. Police believe the legal work was a front to enable

903-506: The clan. Since the mid-1970s, according to several pentiti , members of the Piromalli family and the Nirta family from San Luca rotated among themselves the position of capo crimine . In Gioia Tauro, blood relatives of the Piromalli long represented the interest of the clan in the city council. Peppe Piromalli was captured on February 24, 1984. At age 83, he died on February 19, 2005, and his nephew Giuseppe Piromalli succeeded him. Giuseppe

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946-480: The construction of the steelworks until the project was abandoned when the government decided there was no economic base for it. In 1977 disagreements about business interests emerged between Piromalli and the De Stefano clan. A hit squad headed by Peppe Piromalli killed the clan's boss Giorgio De Stefano. Some 1,000 people were killed in clan wars over the construction contracts. The Piromalli clan managed to condition

989-441: The crisis in the steel industry could no longer be ignored and the government decided there was no economic basis for it. In the meantime some 1,000 people were killed in conflicts over construction contracts. For a while the homicide rate of Gioia Tauro, was higher than that of New York City . Following this, a proposed electrical energy power station was never built, due to environmental problems. Gioia Tauro became an example of

1032-603: The election campaign in 2008 in return for a relaxation of Piromalli’s prison stature. Their go-between Aldo Micciché , a businessman who moved to Venezuela after being convicted of fraudulent bankruptcy in Italy, planned to fill in 50,000 blank ballot slips for Italian voters in Latin America obtained from corrupt officials. Micciché asked two leading members of the Piromalli clan to visit Marcello Dell'Utri – Berlusconi's right-hand man – at his Milan office. The Piromallis redirected

1075-479: The failure that characterized much of the development of Italy's South as "industrialisation without development." The seaport has seven loading docks with an extension of 4,646 metres (15,243 ft); it is the largest in Italy and the seventh-largest container port in Europe, with a 2007 throughput of 3.7 million  TEUs from more than 3,000 ships. In 2018 the port was in eighth place for EU container traffic, on

1118-703: The four winds kept by Aeolus . The winds are the Mistral from the Rhône valley, the Libeccio from the southwest, and the Sirocco and Ostro from the south. Piromalli %27ndrina The Piromalli 'ndrina is one of the most powerful clans of the 'Ndrangheta , a criminal and mafia-type organisation in Calabria , Italy . The 'ndrina is based in Gioia Tauro on the Tyrrhenian coast . The Piromalli's are allied with their relatives of

1161-458: The investments. In July 2008, police cracked down on the stranglehold of the 'Ndrangheta on the port in an operation dubbed "One Hundred Years of History" which netted 18 criminals and businessmen in Calabria, Rome and Milan. The operation also intended to end the start of a possibly bloody turf war between the Piromallis and their former military arm, the Molè family. On October 13, 2008, one of

1204-591: The left) appropriated (and wasted) tens of billions of dollars to build one of the country’s largest steel plants in Calabria, but the project was abandoned because of a crisis in the steel industry.... The government ultimately completed construction of a huge seaport at Gioia Tauro (the sixth largest in the Mediterranean) which was originally meant to service the steel plant....[Alex] Perry [in his 2018 book, The Good Mothers (2018)] notes that ‘the railway that connected Gioia Tauro to Europe stopped 1.5 kilometers short of

1247-402: The mafia in providing goods and services, performing construction work and hiring personnel. And it threw a shadow over the behaviour of local government and other public bodies." The city council of Gioia Tauro was dissolved in 1991 because of infiltration by the 'Ndrangheta. In April 2008, it was dissolved for the second time for the same reason. The town is home to several 'ndrine , such as

1290-499: The mafia in providing goods and services, performing construction work and hiring personnel. And it threw a shadow over the behaviour of local government and other public bodies.” The Piromalli’s were allied with their relatives of the Molè family , also from Gioia Tauro. Often they are referred to as the Piromalli-Molè clan. "The Molè family is the military arm of the Piromalli clan," according to Francesco Forgione , chairman of Italian parliament's Antimafia Commission . Control of

1333-466: The management of distribution and forwarding to customs control and container storage.” The extortion of Ravano and Contship, was part of a project that “did not involve simply this security tax, which grew with the port, but also control of activities tied to the port, the hiring of workers, and relations with port unions and local institutions,” the report added. “It effectively eliminated legitimate competition from companies not influenced or controlled by

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1376-534: The management of the new container terminal in the port of Gioia Tauro . Established in the mid-1990s, it became the largest terminal in the Mediterranean , moving over 2 million containers in 1998. Since 1994, when Contship Italia rented the port area to start transhipment activity and the Medcenter Container Terminal was set up thanks to 138 billion lire (about US$ 86 million) in state financing,

1419-457: The maritime facilities at Civitavecchia, some 68 km (42 miles) to the northwest of Rome. Giglio Porto is a small island port in this area. It rose to prominence, when the Costa Concordia ran aground near the coast of Giglio and sank. The ship was later refloated and towed to Genoa for scrapping. In Greek mythology , it is believed that the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea housed

1462-487: The mid-1990s, it became the largest terminal in the Mediterranean , moving over 2 million containers in 1998. Since 1994, when Contship Italia rented the port area to start transshipment activity and the Medcenter Container Terminal was set up thanks to 138 billion lire (about US$ 86 million) in state financing, the Piromallis aimed to oblige the Medcenter company, through its vice president Walter Lugli, and

1505-503: The port, as well as from other companies in the surrounding area. Despite subscribing to an anti corruption pact with the government, the managers of both Contship and Medcenter gave in to the demands. The arrest warrant issued in January 1999 against members of the Piromalli group stated that the two companies contracted firms indicated by the clan (and in some cases belonging to it) in the port-servicing activities and hired people recommended by

1548-403: The port, meaning all the cargo’ — legal and illegal — ‘from one of the biggest Mediterranean container ports had to be loaded onto mafia-owned trucks and driven three minutes to the station.’ The port's legitimate business has struggled in recent years, no doubt a result of Mafia control.” The Piromalli - Molè clan managed to condition the management of the new container terminal. Established in

1591-469: The sea, north of Sicily . The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Tyrrhenian Sea as follows: There are four exits from the Tyrrhenian Sea (north to south): The Tyrrhenian Basin is divided into two basins (or plains), the Vavilov plain and the Marsili plain. They are separated by the undersea ridge known as the Issel Bridge, after Arturo Issel . The Tyrrhenian Sea

1634-569: The settlements in Southern Italy ( Magna Graecia ). The Battle of the Metaurus was fought nearby in 207 BC. In the 1970s, Gioia Tauro was the main centre for industrial development in Southern Italy , following a burst of violence in Reggio Calabria in 1970, signalling frustration over the central government's neglect of the region. The construction of a large steel plant and port facility

1677-500: The surface and partially melt. The magmatism here is also affected by the fluids released from the slab. Its name derives from the Greek name for the Etruscans , first mentioned by Hesiod in the 8th century BC who described them as residing in central Italy alongside the Latins. The Etruscans lived along the coast of modern Tuscany , Latium and Campania , and referred to the water as

1720-460: The time, Antonio Macrì , the Piromalli brothers and the De Stefano brothers rejected the offer and wanted to be sub-contracted on work carried in order to control the projects. The subcontracts for the steelwork in Gioia Tauro, whose total value reached the astronomic amount of US$ 3.8 billion were largely distributed on the basis of territorial criteria. More than half the contracts were granted to

1763-487: Was a fugitive since 1993 and included in the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy until his capture in March 1999. While in the strict Article 41-bis prison regime he nevertheless keeps on conducting his business and direct the clan outside. The Piromalli clan tried to relax the strict regime for their boss. One of the plots was to deliver votes to Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) coalition during

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1806-492: Was gunned down near Gioia Tauro. According to the Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia (DDA) of Reggio Calabria, after the demise of Girolamo and Peppe Piromalli, their successors have been unable to maintain the necessary balance among the two clans. Background of the emerging conflict seems to be the future investments of hundreds of millions of euros in the Gioia Tauro port and the possibilities to take cuts of

1849-452: Was meant to bring income and jobs to Calabria. Until then Gioia Tauro had been a productive and beautiful agricultural area. Profitable farms and olive groves were expropriated and demolished. The 'Ndrangheta , a Mafia -type criminal organisation based in Calabria, and in particular the Piromalli clan , exploited the construction of the steelworks until the project was abandoned in 1979, when

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