During a news conference in Bologna, Italy’s chief anti-mafia prosecutor Franco Roberti described the swoop as a “historic” step in the fight against the mob, reports Breakingnews.
‘Ndrangheta, whose name is derived from the Greek word meaning courage or loyalty, has grown to become one of the biggest Mafia-type criminal organizations in Italy. Such is the reach of the organization that, in 2011, a US diplomat estimated that ‘Ndrangheta’s ‘turnover’ from organized crime spanning drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering activities accounted for at least 3 percent of Italy’s GDP
Although based in Calabria in the far south of the Italian mainland, the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia syndicate has wielded increasing influence in northern Italy’s economic and political networks, far from its southern heartland.
The crime syndicate has also taken control of Europe’s cocaine trade in recent years, reports Deutsche Welle, outdoing the influence of the more well known mafias of Sicily and Naples and at the same time gaining a foothold in the US and Latin America.
Roberti referred to ‘Ndrangheta as “deeply implanted and very dangerous criminal organization.”
Most of the arrest warrants were executed in Emilia Romagna, one of Italy’s wealthiest regions, centred around Bologna. There Italian police made a total of 117 arrests. Italian law enforcers also made arrests in the northern regions of Lombardia, Piemonte and Veneto as well as Sicily and Calabria in the south.
Around 1,000 Carabinieri armed police officers were engaged in the multiple arrests on charges ranging from mafia association, extortion and illegal possession of arms, reports ANSA.
A number of individuals named in the warrants were arrested. Others also suspected of involvement with ‘Ndrangheta are either already in custody on various charges or are in the process of being taken into custody.
