Super Cartel Camorra Trafficker Turned Informant Raffaele Imperiale Sentenced to 15 Years in Italy

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 World Island Seized

Naples court judge Maria Luisa Miranda has also finalized 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. The Taiwan island was purchased by Imperiale. He previously told a court in Naples that he paid €12 million for the island but has valued it at up to €60 million.

Euro Super Cartel

Imperiale is also believed to have been at the top of the Super Cartel that included Daniel 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.

Imperiale Downplays Involvement with El Rico

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”.

“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,” Imperiale stated.

“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.”