From Butcher To Millionaire
Iamonte rose to power by killing the local Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe Trimarchi in the 1960s. Originally a butcher, he made his fortune skimming off public contracts destined for the development of Calabria which was among the poorest regions of Italy. The construction of a refinery of Liquichimica in Saline Ioniche – a project that would amount to 300 billion lire – was one those projects that was completed in 1979. The plant never became operative because it was built on unstable terrain, subject to landslides, despite the warnings of the head of the local civil engineer office who died in a strange car accident.
The port inside the plant was subsequently used to offload arms and drug shipments from the Middle East against the payment of a fee to the Iamonte clan which controlled the territory. The service included transports for the Sicilian Mafia boss, Nitto Santapaola, who headed the Mafia family of Catania on Sicily’s east coast. Iamonte and his ally Paolo De Stefano secured arms and drug transports when the harbour of Catania was controlled too strictly. In return Santapaola helped the Iamonte clan to get subcontracts for the construction of a railway repair yard in Saline with the construction company of Carmelo Costanzo from Catania.
Read more about this topic: Natale Iamonte
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