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Ndrangheta in the Rems-Murr district: Mafia infiltrates Fellbach's winegrowing!
Cohesion of the Ndrangheta in Germany: Operation Boreas uncovers mafia structures in winegrowing and leads to arrests.
Ndrangheta in the Rems-Murr district: Mafia infiltrates Fellbach's winegrowing!
On April 1, 2025, Operation Boreas was launched, a comprehensive investigation against the Calabrian mafia known as Ndrangheta. Police conducted raids in both Germany and Italy. This spectacular operation, which served to uncover the criminal structures in Germany, resulted in numerous arrests. In total, the authorities managed to arrest 29 members or their supporters, ten of them in Germany. The number of arrests varies; German media even report up to 34 arrests.
In Baden-Württemberg, where the operations took place, searches were carried out particularly in the Rems-Murr district, in Ludwigsburg and in the greater Stuttgart area. The focus was not only on the suspects themselves, but also on the mafia's supporters, including lawyers and accountants. These investigations are the result of intensive international cooperation between the Antimafia District Prosecutor's Office (DDA Catanzaro) and the German authorities.
Detailed findings from “Operation Boreas”
Operation Boreas aimed to unravel a criminal network that carried out raids and illegal pressure on Italian entrepreneurs to force products on them. The investigation showed that the Ndrangheta maintained a strict division of territory using violent methods. A special case concerns a police officer from Aalen who was arrested on suspicion of betraying secrets. This sheds light on possible internal complications within law enforcement.
According to Catanzaro Chief Prosecutor Salvatore Curcio, the operation highlighted the activities of the mafia clans in Germany. This was also supported by a current episode of the SWR podcast “Mafialand”, which provided new information about the background to the investigation. In 2020, a mafioso said in Italian investigation files that the Calabrian Ndrangheta was active in winegrowing in Fellbach.
The challenges in combating organized crime
When reporting on the operation, police chief Maurizio Linares called for a uniform criminal law in Europe to effectively combat organized crime. This highlights the difficulties that judicial authorities have in effectively cooperating in prosecuting cross-border mafia activity. Supporting the mafia is considered a serious circumstance, which further complicates the legal prosecution of the suspects.
Overall, “Operation Boreas” is an important step in the fight against the mafia in Germany and Europe, and close cooperation between the respective authorities seems essential to end the aggressive practices of these criminal organizations and to give the affected entrepreneurs the security they need.
For further information on the background to the investigation and the role of the Ndrangheta in Germany, we recommend reading the reports on ZVW and MafiaOneThank.