Coluccio was born in
Marina di Gioiosa Ionica, a seaside town on southern Italy's
Ionian coast. He was the first of three sons born into a traditional
'Ndrangheta family. Before he reached his teens, his father Vincenzo, was murdered in
Marina di Gioiosa Ionica during a bloody feud that ravaged competing
'Ndrangheta Mazzaferro clan, in contrast to the clan Aquino. The clan survived and eventually rose to prominence under the leadership of Giuseppe Coluccio. The clan achieved an "unbreakable" monopoly on the sale of fish through the "power of intimidation" that was so strong the fisherman declared it a "law" that they answered to the clan, according to Italian
Antimafia prosecutor
Nicola Gratteri in a dossier for Canadian authorities. Proceeds from the monopoly were invested in a "vast drug-trafficking operation in cocaine." His first arrest for drug dealing and trafficking was in 1991. Since then, various investigations identified him as a key player in the import of cocaine from
Colombia for a cartel of
'Ndrangheta clans in collaboration with
Roberto Pannunzi, who brokered the deals in
Latin America. He was also involved in trafficking heroin from
Turkey, smuggled in by fishing boats controlled by the Coluccio-Aquino
'Ndrina in
Marina di Gioiosa Ionica. He is a cousin of Rocco Aquino and Giuseppe Aquino, the bosses of the
Aquino 'ndrina in the town. ==Fugitive and arrest==