Naples court judge Maria Luisa Miranda has also finalised the seizure of Imperiale’s private island in Dubai. Imperiale getting nicked Raffaele Imperiale Drug trafficker Bruno Carbone was right-hand man to gang boss Raffaele Imperiale Imperiale's island Daniel Kinahan A narco-trafficker and a key figure in Europe’s super-cartel has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison by an Italian court. Dubbed the ‘King of Narcos’, Raffaele Imperiale had been extradited to Italy last year from Dubai where he had been overseeing an international cocaine trafficking ring while living in luxury in the Gulf State.
After he was returned to Italian custody, Imperiale agreed to be a State witness and gave extensive details of his drug dealing business and criminal associates to police. Gardai believe Imperiale was a close ally of Daniel Kinahan and they, along with other trafficking gangs, controlled a large portion of Europe’s drugs trade. The Camorra gang boss was a guest at Kinahan’s wedding in Dubai in 2017 where he was monitored by the US’s Drug Enforcement Agency mixing with major criminal figures from across the globe.
At the time, Imperiale, who became infamous after two paintings, including a Van Gogh stolen in 2002 in Amsterdam were found hidden in a wall in one of his villas in Naples, was one of Italy’s most wanted men. Imperiale's island However, Imperiale’s days of living like a king are now at an end after he was given a 15 year and 8 month sentence in a court in Naples on Wednesday. Naples court judge Maria Luisa Miranda has also finalised the seizure of Imperiale’s private island in Dubai.
The island is part of a man-made archipelago called ‘The World’, built just off Dubai’s coast and constructed in the shape of a global map. Imperiale previously told a court in Naples that he paid €12 million for the island but has valued it at up to €60 million. His right-hand man, Bruno Carbone, was also jailed for 14 years – along with a 20 others also linked to his mob.
Drug trafficker Bruno Carbone was right-hand man to gang boss Raffaele Imperiale Imperiale is also believed to have been at the top of the super-cartel that included Kinahan, the Dutch criminal Ridouan Taghi and Bosnian drug trafficker Edin Gacanin among its leaders. Along with Taghi and Edin Gačanin, Imperiale was one of the guests who attended Kinahan’s wedding at the plush Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai in 2017. However, in 2022, he was arrested by Dubai cops and ultimately extradited from Dubai after a legal battle.
Following his extradition, Imperiale dumped his code of Omerta and become State witness against the Camorra, the drug mafia he was a high-ranking member of for over two decades. However, the Italian police forces have now also reportedly made Imperiale available to European police forces for interview – a face which has sent a ripple of fear across is former allies in Dubai. Daniel Kinahan Leaked documents in the Dutch media show how the Italian gangster gave a detailed statement about his involvement with Dutch-Chilean criminal, Richard ‘El Rico’ Riquelme Vega.
‘El Rico’ was also one of Daniel Kinahan’s closet criminal contacts. The Dutch new site Het Parool revealed two months ago that Imperiale was interrogated in September 2023 in the Orinus investigation into El Rico’s criminal organisation. “I met Rico in 2008,” Imperiale told investigators, according to Het Parool.
“When he came out of prison he was well known in the criminal world because he had served his time in Germany without mentioning the names of others. "When he came out of prison he was abandoned by his own people, with whom he worked. "He had no money then, he was completely broke, as we say in Italy.
” However, Imperiale claims that by the time El Rico moved to Dubai, he was a wealthy man from the drugs trade. “When Rico moved to Dubai, he had a large, significant capital, €80 or €100 million which he had amassed from entering “into joint ventures with the Colombian cartels”. Ricardo Riquelme Vega, whose nickname 'El Rico' means ‘The Rich One’ was sentenced to 11 years in jail Asked by investigating officers if Rico and Imperiale had acted together in the cocaine trade, the Italian replied: “No, not directly, but in 2016 he facilitated me, he gave me 300 kilos of cocaine to help me.
“I didn't work with him, he is South American, they need entrances in the Dutch ports, and they have their own channels. I used my own contacts. "I mean, there was no connection in the true sense of the word, but there was mutual respect between the two of us, also a friendly contact, not just work related.
Well, it was more friendly.”.
