Mala Del Brenta - Criminal Panorama of Veneto

Criminal Panorama of Veneto

Before the arrival of these high-calibre sicilian mobsters, Veneto's crime problem was restricted to various disorganised gangs operating throughout the region. In the 1980s, just before the emergence of the Mala del Brenta there were already a few organized crime syndicates that would later be incorporated under the central authority of the Mala del Brenta. These organizations included:

• "Clan Giostrai". These were various affiliated groups of nomad criminals mostly from the provinces of Vicenza, Padova and Venice, of whom a number had a relation to the carnival fair businesses, and where involved in bank heists and robberies, drug trade and more notably kidnapping for ransom.
• The "Mestrini" group, based in Mestre, on the immediate Venetian mainland, a powerful group with strong ties to the Mala del Brenta, their most lucrative trade was drug trafficking, but the group was involved in a vast array of criminal enterprises. Most notably the ownership of many abusive water taxis that would bring foreign tourists to shops and hotels in venice that were owned by the clans associates. The "zoccolo duro" or top capos of the organisation were: Gino Causin, Gilberto "Lolli" Boatto, Paolo Tenderini, Roberto "Paja" Paggiarin and Paolo Pattarello.
• The "Veneziani", the old criminal underworld of Venice, engaged in the same activities of the "Mestrini", the group was headed by the Rizzi brothers and Giancarlo Millo, nicknamed "The Martian".
• The San Donà di Piave cartel, under the leadership of Silvano Maritan, nicknamed "The President", protégé of the confined Cosa Nostra boss Salvatore Contorno, the rivalry with another cartel based in the same area caused a number of violent confrontations and subsequently placed Maritan as capo of the eastern part of the province of Venice, that is until he gave up a percentage of his assets to Felice Maniero.