Natale Iamonte
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Natale Iamonte | |
|---|---|
 Mugshot of 'Ndrangheta boss Natale Iamonte | |
| Born | 7 May 1927 |
| Died | 2 February 2015 (aged 87) Melito di Porto Salvo, Italy |
| Allegiance | 'Ndrangheta |
Natale Iamonte (Italian pronunciation: [naˈtaːle jaˈmonte]; 7 May 1927 – 2 February 2015), sometimes spelled as Jamonte, was an Italian criminal and a historical boss of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type organisation in the region of Calabria, in southern Italy.[1] The Iamonte 'Ndrina is based in Melito di Porto Salvo and Montebello Ionico on the Ionic coast of Calabria. Iamonte was a member of La Santa, a secret society within the 'Ndrangheta, introduced in the early 1970s to maximize the power and invisibility of the most important bosses.[2] He also became a member of the Camera di Controllo, a provincial commission of the 'Ndrangheta formed at the end of the Second 'Ndrangheta war in September 1991, to avoid further internal conflicts.[3]
Iamonte rose to power by killing the local Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe Trimarchi in the 1960s.[4] 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.[5][6]
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 Catania Mafia family 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.[6][7] 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.[6][8]
Political connections
According to several pentiti (Mafia turncoats) Giacomo Mancini – a one time secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and two times government minister – was supported by Iamonte who delivered the necessary votes to get him elected in Parliament. Mancini allegedly tried to adjust the sentence of Natale's son Vincenzo Iamonte, and helped to acquire contracts for the construction of the Liquichimica plant.[7][9] Mancini denied any links with the 'Ndrangheta boss,[7] and was acquitted of the charges.[9]