Tuesday, May 14th 2002: "Shortly After Evenimentul Zilei Revealed the Romanian Side of a Mafia Cigarette Smuggling Ring - an Arrest in Timisoara in the Sacra Corona Unita Network"

Sorin Cehan, Sorin Ozon, Stefan Candea, Sergiu Miat

On Sunday [12 May] morning, at 0300 hours [0200 GMT], organized crime police officers in Timisoara arrested Italian Giuseppe Gazzo, 37, from Verona, on charges of cigarette smuggling. Exactly two months before, Evenimentul Zilei revealed that the Italian Mafia organization Sacra Corona Unita had developed a cigarette smuggling ring in several European countries, Romania included.

In 40 days at the most, Gazzo will be extradited to Italy, where he is charged with Mafia-type association to commit the crime of international cigarette smuggling.

The Montenegro-Romania-Italy Route

Charged with smuggling and Mafia-type activities, Gazzo denied any and all involvement. We reiterate his statement to Evenimentul Zilei given two months ago: "These charges are only based on the statements of a collaborator of the Italian judiciary, who lied. Indeed, I was contacted by the group of Egyptian Hamed Mohamed, but we did not do any business together. In 1999 the Egyptian came to Bucharest, where he established the Megarom firm through intermediaries. He was introduced to me by an Italian, Ottaviano Mura, and on that occasion a proposal was made to me to develop a sales ring in Romania. Mura owes me a very large sum of money from a financial operation in Switzerland in 1998. I had contact with Mohamed in Bucharest just to recoup my money, but we did not do any concrete business." We reiterate that Operation Codice Raimond led to Mohamed's arrest. He is believed to be one of the largest operators on the European cigarette smuggling market. The route of the cigarettes began in Montenegro, passed through Romania, (where the cigarettes were hidden under trucks), and then it went on to Italy; from there the cigarettes went shipped to several Western nations. Through intermediaries, Mohamed established the Megarom Import Export 2000 SRL firm in Bucharest in 1999. It was part of an international network of firms involved in cigarette smuggling. Gazzo and Mohamed were placed by the Italian police on the list of the group led by Swiss Patrick Roger Monnier, nicknamed Raimond. Monnier was considered close to the Mafia boss of Sacra Corona Unita, Francesco Prudentino. As it is well known, cigarette smuggling is one of the "historic" occupations of the Italian Mafia group Sacra Corona Unita.

Trade Ramifications in Romania

Gazzo was contacted by Mohamed's group in 1999, to start a business in Romania. Mohamed, born on 13 October 1950 in Tansa Beni Malu, Egypt, was arrested two months ago in Italy for his activity in the Raimond ring, related to Sacra Corona Unita, which is involved in cigarette trafficking in Montenegro and Romania. Hamed Mohamed's brother, Shawky Hamed Mohamed, born on 11 September 1948, was the leader of the Islamic school in Italy. He was found dead on 13 April 2000 in Rome. The investigations conducted by the Italian prosecution and police suggested that he was strangled. The perpetrator has not been found, but the investigation continues. It is suspected that Shawky Mohamed was in contact with the Egyptian intelligence services. His brother Hamed came to Bucharest, where he established through some intermediaries Megarom Import Export SRL. Its shareholders are the Egyptian's friends: Mura with 90 percent, British citizen of Egyptian descent Sayegh Khalid Halim with 8 percent, and Romanian Sanda Aurelia Ticulescu, with 2 percent. The firm's activity was wholesale trade of sugar, chocolate, and sugar products. We found out that Mura, the friend who introduced Gazzo and the Egyptian, was convicted in Italy of using uncovered checks and fraud and of having ties with Sacra Corona Unita. Now he being protected by the Italian police.

The interesting thing is that two other controversial Italians are associated with Ticulescu in other firms: Giuseppe Monaca, 49, of Marion, Rome province, who was monitored by the Italian authorities because he purchased stolen goods and gave false data to the police, and Roberto Marchetta, 54, from Rome, who is being investigated in Italy for criminal association, drug dealing, and obstruction of justice. Their firms are registered as doing the same old "wholesale trade of sugar, chocolate, and sugar products," producing movies for the cinema and on video, and manufacturing furniture.

Giuseppe Cellamare, the Man Who Opened the Way for Sacra Corona Unita

Cellamare prepared the launch of the Raimond cigarette smuggling ring in Romania. He is an important member of Sacra Corona Unita, a Mafia boss from Bari, arrested in 1998 in Montenegro. Before 1998, Cellamare's presence in Romania and Bulgaria was noted; he is on the list of the 500 most dangerous criminals in Italy. At that time the Italian magistrates asked their Romanian colleagues to gather information about his activity in the international cigarette and arms traffic led by Sacra Corona Unita.