Dozens arrested in global Mafia crackdown

Ninety people linked to the notorious ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate have been arrested in a series of operations stretching from Sicily to Suriname, as part of a global crackdown on the Italian Mafia.

Italian police confirmed that simultaneous raids took place on Wednesday in Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and even as far as South America, related to charges including international drugs trafficking, mafia associations, money laundering and real estate fraud.

It comes one day after Settimo Mineo, the alleged “Godfather” of the Sicilian Mafia group Cosa Nostra, was arrested with 45 other people in the Palermo region of Italy.

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The country’s deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, said the arrests were “one of the biggest blows inflicted on the Mafia by the state”.

The latest clampdown signals the European authorities’ greatest effort to combat organised crime groups, reports Fox News.

Eurojust, which supports judicial coordination between EU member states and led the multinational operation codenamed Pollino, said it was the “biggest of its kind to date in Europe”, involving several hundred police officers and intense joint investigative efforts going back two years.

The ’Ndrangheta, which originated in Calabria, southern Italy, has “managed to extend its reach even amid the scrutiny and constant arrest”, says News.au, and is the only mafia group that operates on all continents, prosecutors say.

“While the Sicilian Mafia was made famous in films and television, ’Ndrangheta is thought to control as much as 80% of Europe’s cocaine trade, and with some 6,000 members, is a substantial and far-spread force in European crime,” says the BBC.

The group surpassed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra groups, according to AFP, due to its tight control of the cocaine trade.

CNN reports that almost 4,000kg of cocaine and 140kg of ecstasy have been traced across Europe during the course of the Eurojust investigation.

Italian restaurants and ice cream parlours used to launder money were among the premises raided. Germany’s Der Spiegel reported that the German operation was mostly concentrated in North Rhine-Westphalia, a stronghold for the Mafia, and involved 240 police and another 240 support staff from the federal criminal agency.

Filippo Spiezia, vice-president of Eurojust and national member for Italy, said: “Today, we send a clear message to organised crime groups across Europe. They are not the only ones able to operate across borders; so are Europe’s judiciary and law enforcement communities.”

While congratulating the multinational effort, Italy’s chief anti-Mafia prosecutor, Federico Cafiero De Raho, said the damage to the group would be minimal. He sounded a note of caution by warning: “Obviously we have not defeated ‘Ndrangheta with this operation - ’Ndrangheta is extremely powerful and extremely rich.”