ROME (AFP) – Italian police launched a major operation yesterday against the Sicilian Mafia in Palermo, issuing warrants for 183 people in a clampdown on Cosa Nostra clans.
More than 1,200 officers from the island were mobilised at dawn as part of the operation, which also extended to other Italian cities, Palermo police said in a statement.
Those arrested are accused of crimes including mafia-type criminal association, attempted murder, extortion, drug trafficking and illegal gambling.
The operation was “aimed at dismantling the mafia districts of the city of Palermo and its province”, the statement said.
The investigation has revealed the extent of the clans’ drug dealing, and also how bosses transmit orders from inside prison using encrypted mobile phones, according to the Corriere della Sera daily.
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra, which inspired the Godfather movies, for many years terrorised the Italian public and state with killings such as that of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. It was subsequently hit by a fierce state clampdown and has in recent years been overtaken by the ‘Ndrangheta, which is based in the southern region of Calabria.
The ‘Ndrangheta’s is considered Italy’s wealthiest and most powerful mafia, and is heavily involved in drug trafficking, controlling the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe.
But the Cosa Nostra still wields significant influence in local public administration and businesses, and has links abroad.
