I found a former mafia hitman on a caravan park in Lancashire – he cried when he told me his shocking story, says Ross Kemp

WHEN you think of the Italian mafia, chances are you conjure up images of smartly dressed gangsters in Sicily or characters from The Godfather on the dangerous streets of New York.

You wouldn’t expect them to work from a furniture store in Woking, live above a butcher’s shop in Aberdeen or organise a peace treaty in a terraced house in Preston.

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But that’s what Ross Kemp discovered while making a five-part documentary series.

The EastEnders actor and now journalist discovered that organised criminals from Italy have had ties to the country for a century.

And he believes they are still active here today, perhaps more strongly than ever before.

In Sky History series Ross Kemp: Mafia And Britain, which starts on Tuesday, he comes face to face with a former hitman who lived in a Lancashire caravan park, and the daughter of a mafia boss who hid thousands of pounds in her knickers.

The web of crime that leads back to these shores takes Ross to Colombia, the US, Spain and southern Italy.

Experts believe Britain is attractive to the mafia because it is the largest cocaine market in Europe and has lax policies on money laundering.

Ross says, “They’re definitely still there. They’re everywhere.

“They operate in a very different way than they did in the 1920s or 1980s. The most successful ones are the ones you never hear about.”

The Mafia originated on the Italian island of Sicily and the first examples of Mafia influence occurred in London in the 1920s.

‘He started stealing Rolexes when he was seven or eight years old’

Charles “Darby” Sabini, who operated out of a part of the capital known as Little Italy, was involved in protecting racetracks from bookmakers and imported shooters from his family’s homeland.

Links were made with Italian mafiosi in New York. During the American Prohibition, liquor was smuggled there.

In the 1960s, the Americans became involved in British casinos when gambling restrictions were relaxed.

In Philadelphia, George “Cowboy” Martorano, who served 32 years in prison for drug offenses, told Ross how his godfather Angelo Bruno would sometimes fly as many as 40 big-spending gamblers to London at a time in exchange for a cut of the winnings.

Angelo invited Ronnie Kray to his home, but the British gangster was arrested shortly after landing for carrying cash.

Strings were reportedly pulled to get Kray out of the country before he could be questioned.

Ross explains: “Angelo Bruno had to get rid of Ronnie Kray very, very quickly because he found him too unstable.”

As more casinos were allowed in the US, the Mafia seemed to lose interest in England.

But the discovery of Roberto Calvi, 62, hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 sent a signal that they were there.

Calvi, known as ‘God’s banker’ because he handled the Pope’s money, is said to have lost large sums of money to a Sicilian gangster.

Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley says: “The Mafia said, wherever you go, we’ll find you.”

Many historians suspect that hitman Francesco Di Carlo was responsible for Calvi’s murder, but no one has ever been found guilty of the crime.

The killer, also known as Frankie the Strangler, helped transport heroin and cannabis under the guise of his antiques business.

Di Carlo lived in a country house in the Surrey stock exchange town of Woking, drove a Ferrari and ran a number of businesses, including a hotel and a travel agency.

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In 1985, his operation was smashed by British customs and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

He died in 2000, still denying having committed Calvi’s murder.

The Italian crime of mafia ties does not appear in the police files here.

That helped Gennaro Panzuto, a well-known member of the Camorra criminal organisation in Naples, who fled here in 2006 with the help of British criminals with ties to the Italian city.

Because Gennaro wanted to keep a low profile, they arranged for him to live at the Six Arches Caravan Park near Preston.

Many people at home wanted Panzuto dead, because of all the enemies he had killed.

Ross suspects that the former hitman now only wants to end his life, because of all the guilt he feels.

He says: “He was quite tearful in the interview. He got very emotional.

He said, “My life is worthless.”

“He was born to do it. He stole wristwatches, Rolexes, from the age of seven or eight.

“And because you can get away with it, you can also get away with pointing a gun at someone and shooting them.”

Panzuto committed credit card fraud in Lancashire and bit off a rival’s ear as a sign of power.

He gradually re-established ties with his home country, at one point inviting members of the Camorra to his new terraced house in a village near Preston for ‘peace negotiations’.

He claims that the outcome of the two-day meeting was an armistice in Naples.

Ross says: “Whether that is absolutely true, we can’t prove, but there were certainly meetings of more than one clan in that house.”

“I hid all the money in my underwear”

In 2007, Panzuto’s home was raided by British police and he was convicted in Italy of murder and drug trafficking.

But Panzuto only served 14 years in prison after testifying against the Camorra.

Not far away, in Blackpool, Marisa Merico became embroiled in Italy’s notorious ‘Ndrangheta syndicate over thirty years ago.

She was raised here by an English mother, but her gangster father Emilio Di Giovine took advantage of her clean record and English passport at the age of 17.

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She helped him in her underwear to pass ‘dirty money’ through customs at the airport.

Marisa tells Ross, “I put all the money in my underwear. I never got arrested.”

In 1994, at the age of 24, she was arrested for money laundering and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

Ross explains: “On behalf of her father, she led one of the largest clans in Milan.

“She eventually ended up in Durham with Myra Hindley because she had bought a house with laundered money in the UK.”

Gangs deposit the money from their criminal activities in banks or seemingly legitimate businesses to prevent the authorities from tracing it. This is also known as money laundering.

Marisa tells Ross how she deposited £500,000 into Coutts, the Royal Family’s bank.

In 2012, Coutts was fined £8.75 million for breaching money laundering regulations.

Major banks including NatWest, HSBC and Santander have paid higher fines for similar breaches.

Why is it Preston? If you go to the last places people think of, you have a better chance of getting away with it

Ross Kemp

Gus Jones, who wrote a report for the Financial Action Task Force on the links between the Italian mafia and the City of London, found three bullets on his doorstep: one for each member of his family.

Mafia expert Professor Felia Allum claims: “If you took all the illicit money into the City of London, would it still function normally? I think it could collapse.”

Ross’ investigation also took him to Colombia, the country that supplies most of Britain’s cocaine and which has close ties to the mafia.

But a meeting with cartel leader Adolfo Macias, better known as Don Fito, was called off after he escaped from prison, where he was serving a 35-year sentence for murder and human trafficking.

Almost nine months later, Don Fito has still not been captured.

Gangsters like him prefer the anonymity of lesser-known locations.

Ross concludes: “Why is it Preston? If you go to London, at some point you’re going to attract the attention of the authorities.

“On the other hand, if you go to the last places people think of, you have a better chance of getting away with it.”

• Ross Kemp: Mafia And Britain airs on Sky History on Tuesday and his book of the same name is out on September 19.

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