Tabacchi Lavorati Esteri

Tabacchi Lavorati Esteri recounts 30 years of stories of smuggling and crime in the Brindisi area. In the early 1970s, the “Guatemala” bar opened in a peripheral neighborhood of Brindisi. Around the same time, the Contestabile family founded the first smuggling team. Between the founder of the smuggling operation, Damiano Contestabile, and the owner of the “Guatemala” bar, Benito Ravone, there was always mutual respect and admiration, making the Guatemala bar the headquarters for the smugglers. During the early years, the bar fully experienced the phenomenon of so-called “clean” smuggling, which later turned more violent. This “historical document” retraces the events, circumstances, and twisted criminal mechanisms of organized crime. It is a story that starts from the origins of smuggling, through the interference of the Sacra Corona Unita, and reaches the so-called “Operazione Primavera”. The documentary features unpublished testimonies, bloodshed, and exclusive images from one of the most controversial periods (1970-2000) in Pugliese history. With contributions from the Apulia Film Commission and the Puglia Region.