Italians sniff Palazzolo trail

SUSPECTED mafioso Vito Palazzolo might be behind bars in Italy but there appears to be a renewed probe into his dealings. A high-level delegation from Italy met with South African authorities last month to gather information about Palazzolo.

The 68-year-old first arrived in South Africa in 1986, after he escaped from prison in Switzerland where he was serving time for financing drug trafficking.

However, the Italian ministry would not comment about its officials’ visit to South Africa. “Due to the sensitivity of the ongoing proceedings, it is not opportune to give a statement,” said a representative from the ministry.

For years, the Italians had tried to extradite Palazzolo from South Africa to face charges related to mafia racketeering, Dr Gaetano Paci, a former judge in the Anti-Mafia Directorate in Palermo, said in 2010.

In 2006 Palazzolo was convicted in absentia of “aggravated Mafia-type association” and was sentenced to nine years behind bars.

In 2012 he was nabbed by Thai authorities and eventually extradited to Italy, where he is serving his jail term.

For close to three decades Palazzolo amassed an impressive list of properties in South Africa and started businesses including La Vie de Luc bottled water, which is still being served on national carrier SAA. He still owns a luxury home — which he listed in court papers as his residence — at the V&A Waterfront Marina, valued at close to R13-million.

German non-profit investigative newsroom CORRECT!V mapped out “Palazzolo’s empire” including dozens of operations, assets and people linked to him.

This was done by a team of journalists, lawyers and “data scientists” from six countries, who also pieced together the Mafia’s infiltration of the African economy. The team succeeded in identifying about 70 properties across South Africa and Namibia, which are owned or have been owned directly by Palazzolo, a family member or a company linked to his empire.

Palazzolo’s son, Christian, still runs the water bottling plant in Franschhoek.

On the company website it claims that its product is “South Africa’s number one still and sparkling mineral water” and that it is “expanding globally”.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said they too could not comment on the Italian investigators’ visit to South Africa.