Antonio La Torre is an Italian multi-billionaire real estate developer, restaurateur and member of the
. He is the brother of
Augusto La Torre, the former head of the powerful
La Torre clan
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
from
Mondragone
Mondragone (Neapolitan language, Campanian: ) is a ''comune'' or municipality in the Province of Caserta in the Italy, Italian region of Campania. It is located about northwest of Naples and about west of Caserta.
History
In the Middle Ages, it ...
. In 1984 he moved to
Aberdeen in Scotland with his Scottish wife, Gillian F Strang, evading the authorities in Italy.
Until his arrest and subsequent extradition to
Italy in March 2005, he was in charge of the clan's local branch in
Aberdeen,
Scotland, where he managed the clan's day-to-day activities and businesses (both legitimate and illegitimate).
[Dons on the Don]
, Scotland on Sunday, January 27, 2008 La Torre ran eight Italian restaurants in Scotland and a currently owns two real estate agencies based in London.
Biography
La Torre was born in 1956 to Tiberio La Torre, also a mafia boss
and his wife Paolina. He has a brother
Augusto La Torre.
Criminal career
He is said to have laundered millions of pounds from Italy through his own legitimate businesses (including his own restaurants) through the method of setting up fake companies, taking out loans to order goods from Italy, then bankrupting the companies so that the money was legitimised and the costly imports could be sold for well below their value.
On a business trip in 1996 to
Amsterdam, he was arrested and
extradited to Italy, where he was jailed for 4 years for firearm offences and mafia association. He served only 15 months of his sentence but wasn't allowed to leave the country. On appeal, he was deemed a non-threat and allowed back to Scotland.
The charge of "mafia association" dated back to 1984, but extradition was not possible due to there being no such equivalent crime in the UK.
In 2004, a U.K court sentenced him to 13 years imprisonment for fraud and
racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and of ...
charges, after being
tried in absentia. In 2005 he went on the run in Scotland when an international
search warrant for his name was issued.
He was arrested in 2005, and extradited to Italy in 2006, where he faced his sentence; he was released in 2014.
[
]
Personal life
La Torre has three children with his (as of 2014) estranged wife Gillian F Strang, an oil industry worker who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
See also
* List of members of the Camorra
* List of Camorra clans
* Pescopagano massacre
* Augusto La Torre
*
* List of most wanted fugitives in Italy
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Torre, Antonio
1956 births
Living people
People from the Province of Caserta
Camorristi
La Torre clan