Post date: Jan 09, 2014 6:34:51 PM
The father of two former Italian assistants of Britain's celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has been arrested for conspiring to sell cocaine and hashish as a member of the Calabrian mafia.
MILAN, ITALY (CARABINIERI) - Michele Grillo, the father of two former Italian assistants of Britain's celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has been arrested for conspiring to sell cocaine and hashish as a member of the Calabrian mafia, investigators said on Thursday (January 9).
Italian carabinieri military police released surveillance video that they said showed the exterior of an office run by an alleged mafia boss on the outskirts of Milan run by the Barbaro-Papalia mafia clan. The video showed members of the alleged gang speaking outside the office on the street.Michele Grillo, 66, was taken into custody on Wednesday (January 8) after a long investigation into the criminal activities in Italy's financial capital Milan of the 'Ndrangheta mafia clan.
In a court case that ended last month, sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo were cleared of defrauding Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi of 685,000 pounds ($1.13 million).
Judicial sources confirmed on Thursday that Grillo was the father of Elisabetta andFrancesca. There was no suggestion that the daughters had any link to Grillo's case.
The Calabrian mafia, known as the 'Ndrangheta, has in recent years eclipsed the power of its more storied cousin, the Sicilian mafia or Cosa Nostra, thanks to its key role in importing cocaine from South America to Europe.
Grillo is accused of conspiracy to sell "large" amounts of cocaine and hash and using threats of violence to extort 85,000 euros from the owner of a petrol station, according to the 196-page warrant for his arrest.