Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso return to Giunti Odeon to present Cartelli di sangue. Le rotte del narcotraffico e le crisi che lo alimentano (Mondadori), a clear and unsettling journey into the hidden folds of international drug trafficking. This book shows that international cooperation between countries and anti-mafia institutions is a necessary—but not sufficient—condition to truly eradicate this scourge. Territories must be freed from need and fear, restoring dignity and trust to communities; only then will the mafias lose their fertile ground, allowing young people to grow up in an environment based on legality, responsibility, and mutual respect.

The book:

An invisible web envelops the planet. Along its threads flow tons of cocaine and unimaginable amounts of money. From the vast plantations of South America, the drug now reaches every corner of the world—United States, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy—fueling a global criminal economy. Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso have followed these routes on the ground, starting from the places where it all begins: Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, the world’s three main producers. There they met the cocaleros who harvest the leaves, saw the cocinas where the leaves become coca paste, and collected the testimonies of those who fight drug trafficking every day in anti-drug units. The picture that emerges is merciless: while the South American cartels amass colossal profits, entire regions sink into misery, suffocated by corruption and violence and deprived of institutional strength. And yet the flow of drugs does not stop; it crosses porous borders, travels hidden in containers, and reaches major European ports—even aboard makeshift submarines. Italy is an integral part of this system: the ’Ndrangheta, with its extraordinary capacity for infiltration, is now one of the most reliable partners of the South American cartels. From the docks of Gioia Tauro, millions of doses flood street-level markets, turning into money that is laundered through increasingly sophisticated methods, ultimately intertwining with the legal economy.

The authors:

Nicola Gratteri: Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic at the Court of Reggio Calabria, he is one of the magistrates most deeply committed to combating the ’Ndrangheta and has lived under police protection since April 1989. Saved by chance from a bombing attempt against him, he is one of the figures who best understands the mechanisms of Italy’s three major mafias—Cosa Nostra, Camorra, and ’Ndrangheta. He has coordinated major investigations into organized crime (including the one related to the Duisburg massacre) and into international drug-trafficking routes. Together with Antonio Nicaso, historian of criminal organizations and one of the world’s leading experts on the ’Ndrangheta, he has written numerous books, including: Fratelli di sangue (Pellegrini 2006), La malapianta (Mondadori 2010), La giustizia è una cosa seria (Mondadori 2011), Male lingue (Pellegrini Editore 2014), Oro bianco (Mondadori 2015), Padrini e padroni (Mondadori 2016), L’inganno della mafia (Rai-Eri 2017), Fiumi d’oro (Einaudi 2017), La rete degli invisibili(Mondadori 2019), and with Antonio Nicaso Non chiamateli eroi (Mondadori 2021), Il grifone. Come la tecnologia sta cambiando il volto della ’ndrangheta (Mondadori 2023), Una Cosa sola (Mondadori 2024), Senza scorciatoie. Una storia per dire no alle ingiustizie (Mondadori 2025).

Antonio Nicaso: Born in the province of Reggio Calabria, he now lives in Canada. He is a journalist, writer, and scholar of mafia-type criminal phenomena. He has devoted particular attention to comparative analysis of Italian mafias and foreign criminal organizations, with reference to partnership strategies in illicit activities such as drug trafficking and money laundering. He teaches the history of criminal organizations at Middlebury College in Vermont (USA). He is the author of 18 books on mafia-style crime, including several international bestsellers translated into multiple languages. In 1995 he published Global mafia, a book that was the first to introduce and explain the concept of criminal partnership; in 2010 he published La mafia spiegata ai ragazzi (Mondadori). With Nicola Gratteri he wrote Fratelli di sangue (Pellegrini 2006), La malapianta (Mondadori 2010), La giustizia è una cosa seria (Mondadori 2011), La mafia fa schifo (Mondadori 2011), Dire e non dire (Mondadori 2012), Acqua santissima (Mondadori 2013), Oro bianco(Mondadori 2015), Padrini e padroni (Mondadori 2016), Fiumi d’oro (Einaudi 2017), and La rete degli invisibili(Mondadori 2019). With Peter Edwards he wrote La fine dell’onore. L’ultima guerra di un boss che ha insanguinato l’America (Rai-Eri 2018). With Vittorio Amaddeo and Maria Barillà he wrote Quando la ’ndrangheta scoprì l’America. 1880–1956. Da Santo Stefano d’Aspromonte a New York, una storia di affari, crimini e politica (Mondadori 2019), and with Nicola Gratteri Non chiamateli eroi (Mondadori 2021), Il grifone (Mondadori 2023), Una Cosa sola (Mondadori 2024), Senza scorciatoie (Mondadori 2025).