FBIS3-41348
"jptdd008__l94056"
JPRS-TDD-94-008-L
Document Type:JPRS
Document Title:Narcotics
23 February 1994
LATIN AMERICA
PERU
Italian Prosecutors Investigating Peruvian Drug Gangs' Links to `Camorra'
PY1202191094 Lima EL COMERCIO in Spanish 2 Feb 94 p A2
PY1202191094
Lima EL COMERCIO
Language: Spanish
Article Type:BFN
[Editorial: "Drug Enforcement and International
Cooperation"]
[Text] An important piece of news connected with drug
enforcement has recently been revealed by our investigative
unit, which has patiently matched information coming from the
Attorney General's Office and the Foreign Ministry.
It is about the presence in Lima last December of three
prosecutors from Naples, who came to our country to investigate
alleged links between Peruvian drug trafficking gangs and
criminals belonging to the sadly renowned "Camorra" of Naples.
Italian prosecutors Salvatore Sbrizzi, Guglielmo Palmieri,
and Paolo Mancuso came to Peru exclusively to carry out an
investigation that has no relation to other events of public
domain [alleged bribes accepted by former President Alan Garcia
from Italian companies to build a subway line in Lima] that also
are being investigated by Peruvian and Italian courts.
The Italian attorneys, who are confronting an age-old
criminal organization, are prosecuting a hundred criminals in
Naples for crimes like "vendettas," murders, and, of course,
drug trafficking committed on an international scale between
1983 and 1990.
According to the information obtained by our newspaper,
these
criminal Italian organizations have contacted their Peruvian
counterparts, which apparently include the gang headed by drug
trafficker Reynaldo Rodriguez Lopez, known by police as "El
Padrino."
The visiting prosecutors also are interested in the
mysterious death some years ago of some Italian citizens in
Lima. The local investigations have not found out their identity
yet, the reason for their presence in Peru, the reason they were
killed, or who killed them.
As is known, nothing concrete was found out in the official
investigation. However, it is a well-known rumor that the
murders were the result of a "settling of accounts" among drug
traffickers; a rumor that no longer seems to be groundless.
An important detail that cannot be left out about these
Italian prosecutors' trip to Peru is that they are here because
they have never received a reply to rogatory letters they sent
at the beginning of November requesting specific information
about the crimes they are investigating.
Fortunately, the Peruvian Attorney General's Office seems to
be more willing to help in the case. The Peruvian prosecutor
assigned to the case not only accompanied them during their
investigation but she also has prepared a long report with all
the information requested by the visiting prosecutors.
It is significant to point out this aspect because
determined
cooperation among the police and judicial officials of the
several countries involved in drug trafficking is an
indispensable condition so that the struggle against these
powerful criminal organizations that move vast resources with a
major power of corruption will have positive and permanent
results.
Our country, which for well-known reasons is assailed by
that
scourge in all its aspects, must be exemplary in helping and
using this kind of cooperation.