Arrested mafia baked the most delicious pizzas

The 73-year-old owner Rocco Gasperoni and his wife Maura were also familiar figures around. ,, A guy with always a smile on his face. He had his restaurant only sold eight months ago. I thought because it was time for his retirement, "said the neighbor, interior designer Wim Mos. ,, A lot of people are rotten shocked that he was arrested."

Rocco Gasperoni was arrested on May 12 and charged with membership of the Mafia and drug trafficking. He is affiliated with the Belfiore family from Turin, an important clan from the southern Italian 'Ndrangheta. His criminal activities date back to 1997, when he was arrested in the Spanish coastal city of Malaga with the big mafia boss Giuseppe Belfiore.Four years later he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for smuggling 1,500 kilos of hashish between Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Since his detention can no longer be stretched, he gets house arrest. During that time he takes the legs, presumably immediately to the Netherlands.

connections
Our country has already no secrets for the Italian. Already in 1997 he has important connections here, it can be seen from his former criminal file. An overheard conversation shows that Gasperoni someone on the Italian consulate in the Netherlands. As another mafia arrested in the Netherlands, which requires Gasperoni consulate employee for advice.

In 2007, his final condemnation and ask the Italians for the first time for his extradition. The Italian is already long and wide settled in Scheveningen, where he runs a delicatessen in Loggerstraat. According to Italian court documents, he was arrested in the Netherlands. He sits three days solid, but is at large because the extradition request is not completed correctly.

Still at large Gasperoni open a new store, now upscale Stevinstraat. His liquor trade, however, is not great. ,, Why Wim Mos start your no ice cream shop, "asked him. But Gasperoni does it differently. He's real delivery Italian pizzas. Before he knows it, riding the motorbikes is a battle in the round, he can afford a restaurant section to begin.

remarkable
,, It was there would immediately packed, "said a trader who does not with his name in the newspaper. ,, We are talking now about the mafia, right? In the restaurant it was sometimes that there were strange people, who were sitting in dark corners. As an Italian grandpa of 80, always surrounded by women. He never had to deal with. "

Rocco Gasperoni remains a thorn in the side of the Italians. In 2012 they make a new extradition request. Now not only bend the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, as well as Europol and Eurojust are on the case. Gasperoni appears for extradition too long in the Netherlands, where he just has a valid residence permit. Therefore, decided his sentence to convert to a Dutch.

His original sentence of 14 years is now converted into a twelve-year sentence. Gasperoni stuck here for trade and smuggling of hashish and an old bankruptcy fraud. That the case has taken so long, the prosecution blames in The Hague 'complex legislation and major differences between the Dutch and Italian law. The bringing together of these took time.

While there s the thing worked, the arrest in the Stevinstraat to local residents as a bolt from the blue. ,, I knew his wife well, "said the businesswoman. ,, Who was here last week. She talked about the sale of the thing. That they would retire in Italy. That will just fall through now."

By editorial AD Koen Voskuil Photo: Frank Jansen