Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1337056
NEWS 9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 FEBRUARY 2021 CONTACT Adriana Farrugia or Erika Arrigo on 21382741 for sponsorship opportunities KURT SANSONE A Neapolitan man who owned restaurants in Birgu and Mar- saskala was the distributor in Malta of marijuana peddled by mafia clans from Naples and Catania. Geremia Esposito, 61, was ar- rested last week as part of a ma- jor anti-mafia operation carried out by the Italian police that targeted three drug trafficking organisations. Research carried out by Mal- taToday shows that Esposito lived in Xgħajra and Marsaska- la. He also has family in Malta. Court documents show that Esposito ran a restaurant on the Birgu waterfront around 11 years ago but had to vacate it after failing to pay €15,000 due in rent. Before that he owned a restaurant in Marsaskala. According to Italian investiga- tors the drugs would originate in the port of Buenaventura in Colombia from where the Ital- ian police operation that rout- ed three criminal organisations last week, got its name. The drugs would then make their way to Spain and onto Italy. The drugs destined for Malta would be transferred to Sicily from where they would eventu- ally be transported via the cata- maran service to Valletta. One of the Camorra groups targeted by the Italian police was the Genovese family that operates on behalf of the Gal- lo-Cavalieri clan in Torre An- nunziata, near Naples. The investigation revealed how a senior exponent of this clan, Franco Genovese, 59, bought two consignments of more than 100kg of marijuana. The drugs were transported to a storage site in Sicily. Agatino Bonaccorsi, 63, from the mafioso Cappello clan of Catania, was tasked with the temporary storage of the mar- ijuana pending its transfer to Malta. Bonaccorsi was also tasked with finding new buyers in Sicily. Social media exchanges ana- lysed by MaltaToday show that Bonaccorsi and Esposito know each other. The drugs would be shipped from Pozzallo and Esposito would be tasked with distribu- tion in the Maltese market. Geremia Esposito's son, Vin- cenzo Esposito, 35, was also arrested by the Italian police. Like his father, Vincenzo's role was to maintain contacts with Sicilian and Maltese operatives who would distribute the drugs in the respective markets. A second consignment of 40kg of marijuana destined to Malta was also seized from the Genovese clan. The drugs, €166,000 in cash, an unregistered Beretta pistol and ammunition were inter- cepted by the police at Villa San Giovanni in Calabria. The town serves as the main transit point between the Italian mainland and Sicily. Geremia and Vincenzo Espos- ito, Genovese and Bonaccorsi were among 10 men arrested in Operation Buenaventura and are being held in jail under pre- ventive custody. Another 10 individuals are under house arrest, pending judicial proceedings against them. The Italian police said that the drugs seized from all three or- ganisations had a street value of €8 million. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Neapolitan restaurateur was Malta contact for marijuana trail from Colombia to Valletta Geremia Esposito, 61, was arrested last week as part of a major anti-mafia operation Police want Dutch police to quiz inmate over Melvin Theuma tapes NICOLE MEILAK A Dutch inmate who claims he has record- ings of the middleman in the Caruana Gal- izia assassination, has been issued with a European Investigation Order by the police in Malta. The Financial Crimes Investigation De- partment superintendent James Grech is- sued the EIO to the Dutch police, in a bid to confirm the veracity of the alleged re- cordings of Melvin Theuma, who turned State's evidence in 2019 to testify against Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech, the al- leged mastermind of the murder. Police investigators are still unsure about the veracity of the recordings, although the Fenech defence team – Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca – travelled to Amsterdam in January where they met Hofstra. Sources close to the Dutch inmate who spoke to MaltaToday, claim Hofstra is be- ing "pressured" to hand over the record- ings. The sources, who are in contact with Hofstra, claim the Dutch inmate is an- noyed at press reports connecting him to a drugs investigation, which has only add- ed more incongruous pieces to the Hofstra puzzle. "He just wants this to quiet down," the source said. But Hofstra's phone recordings of Melvin Theuma, whom he befriended at the white taxi stand at Fenech's Portomaso Hilton, where the middleman allegedly speaks of his fear of Keith Schembri, the former prime minister's chief of staff, has un- leashed a furious storm of speculation. These included allegations that he could have aided Theuma in sending phishing emails to Yorgen Fenech; as well as another bizarre twist in which he befriended Silvio Zammit, who stands charged with bribery in the Dalligate affair, whom he could have helped in tampering some emails related to the EU tobacco scandal. Zammit and Dalli have denied these last allegations. Hofstra even managed to get a photo snapped together with former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi and Air Malta's top brass at a promotional Malta-Leipzig route inauguration in November 2018. He is said to have travelled with Mizzi and Air Malta owing to his fluency in English and Dutch. Hofstra (centre) with Air Malta top brass: from left, former CEO Clifford Chetcuti, former tourism Konrad Mizzi, chairman Charles Mangion, and former marketing chief Paul Sies. The photo was taken at an inauguration flight for the Malta-Leipzig route SCAN THIS CODE USING A QR SCANNER APP TO WATCH THE LATEST EPISODE ON YOUR SMARTPHONE