IRA militant on run from Italian police for alleged involvement in mafia money laundering scheme as luxury properties worth £390million are seized

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IRA militant on run from Italian police for alleged involvement in mafia money laundering scheme as luxury properties worth £390million are seized

• Convicted IRA terrorist Henry James Fitzsimons, 63, wanted in Italy
• Police swooped on 20 alleged members of 'Ndrangheta gang today
• Fitzsimons allegedly part of plot involving luxury resorts in Calabria
• Police believe he was sent by IRA to launder drug-trafficking profits

By Steve Robson and Hannah Roberts

PUBLISHED:15:20 EST, 5 March 2013| UPDATED:16:55 EST, 5 March 2013

 

Wanted: Convicted IRA terrorist Henry Fitzsimons is on the run after allegedly conspiring with the Italian mafia in a money laundering scheme

An IRA militant is on the run from Italian police after they cracked an alleged money laundering scheme linked to mafia gangs today.

A European arrest warrant has been issued for Henry James Fitzsimons, 63, a convicted terrorist from Belfast, after 20 alleged members of a criminal gang were arrested and assets worth £390million during the operation.

He is accused of conspiring with the 'Ndrangheta mafia to launder drug-trafficking money by investing in luxury properties along the Calabrian coast of southern Italy.

The IRA allegedly sent Fitzsimons to launder drug-trafficking profits with the help of the Italian mafia gang 'Ndrangheta, according to the news agency AGI.

Fitzsimons had invested around 12 million Euros with the Italian mafia and a group of Spanish entrepreneurs to build resorts and luxury residences on some of the most beautiful, undeveloped beaches of Calabria, police said.

After serving eight years for terrorism, Fitzsimons had reinvented himself as an entrepreneur. His role was to promote the properties in Britain and Ireland and advise potential customers.

The money he invested in the construction of a resort called ‘Gioiello del Mare ‘ or Jewel of the Sea, in Brancaleone, on the southern tip of Italy was certainly of criminal origin, according to detectives.

Fitzsimons is accused of conspiring with the Italian mafia to launder money by investing in property on the Calabrian coast (file picture)

Operation: Italian Carabinieri arrested convicted IRA terrorist Henry Fitzsimons during a raid on alleged money laundering by the mafia (file picture)

Veteran mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri is leading the investigation into the 'Ndrangheta gang

His membership of the IRA was ascertained by wiretapped phone conversations, the arrest warrant said.

The Irish separatist group allegedly first contacted the 'Ndrangheta mafia branch, based in Calabria, as far back as 2007.

The IRA has previously been known to launder money through organised criminal gangs in Spain.

Colonel Claudio Pettrozziello said: 'We know from the terminology he used that the money originated from crime.

'We can't prove it was IRA money but we know he still had strong links to the organisation.

'We are still hoping to catch Fitzsimons. We have issued the warrant for his arrest but he has already fled Europe, beyond our jurisdiction.' he said.

He added: 'He knew he was involved with the mafia and we believe he himself had reason to fear for his life.'

The 'Ndrangheta, whose name means 'virtue' in a dialect of ancient Greek, originally made their money from kidnappings and extortion.

But they have now expanded into the drugs and property from which their huge profits are invested in northern Europe.

Police seized 12 companies and 17 tourist complexes in Calabria where the 'Ndrangheta had allegedly invested illicit money.

The investigation was led by veteran anti-Mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri who says the ‘Ndrangheta has evolved into an extensive business network reinvesting the profits from narcotics, arms trafficking and other sources estimated at ten of billions of euros a year.

'This is a new ‘Ndrangheta entrepreneurship, a new way of ‘doing Mafia’ where there is no shooting or killing, but where affiliation derives only from one matrix: money,' the finance police statement said according to the Financial Times.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288630/IRA-militant-run-Italian-police-alleged-involvement-mafia-money-laundering-scheme-luxury-properties-worth-390million-seized.html#ixzz2MmScQL4F
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