Roberto Pannunzi, nicknamed Bé-bé (baby) is an Italian, and was the alleged boss of the Calabrian mafia gang, 'Ndrangheta, but supplied Cosa Nostra. and has been
described as "Europe's most wanted drugs trafficker", and the "biggest cocaine trafficker in the world", being compared to the Colombian Pablo Escobar. He is currently aged 65 or 67. In 1999
Pannunzi escaped from a private clinic, and repeated the escape in 2010 from a clinic located in Rome.
Pannunzi traded cocaine to rival families, which was hailed as a first by Roberto Saviano, a journalist: "He collected money from the various families, often rival families. He is reported to
have traded around two tonnes of cocaine per month, and "he organises purchases of 300,000 kilograms at a time". According to Nicola Gratteri, the deputy chief prosecutor in Reggio Calabria,
Pannunzi is "the only one who can sell both to the 'Ndrangheta and to Cosa Nostra. He is definitely the most powerful drug broker in the world".
On the 5 July 2013, Pannunzi was captured in a shopping mall in Bogota, in a joint operation between the Colombian police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He was deported the next
day. When he was detained, he possessed a fake Venezuelan identity card, under the name "Silvano Martino". Gratteri explained why he was deported rather than extradited: "an extradition order
would have taken several months". Pannunzi has a sixteen and a half year prison sentence to serve in Italy. Prosecutors have said that he is responsible for establishing the cocaine trade between
Colombia and Italy.
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Pannunzi Roberto
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