Italian police target 116 individuals in major anti-mafia sweep
AFP - [email protected]
Published: 4 Jul, 2017 CET.
Updated: Tue 4 Jul 2017 11:10 CET
Italy on Tuesday launched a crackdown on organized crime in the south of the country, deploying more than a thousand police in a hunt for members of the 'Ndrangheta mafia, local media said.
Helicopters, sniffer dogs and teams specializing in detecting bunkers and other hideaways joined the operation, they said.
It targeted 116 individuals from 24 crime families, sought for criminal association, extortion, fraud, illegal possession of arms and other offences.
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Based on tightly knit clans, the 'Ndrangheta has its stronghold in Calabria, the "toe" of Italy, although recent arrests have shown it is also operating in northern Italy and has expanded to other European countries.
It is widely believed to have outstripped the better-known Sicilian and Neapolitan mafias through its successful cocaine trafficking from Latin America.
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Helicopters, sniffer dogs and teams specializing in detecting bunkers and other hideaways joined the operation, they said.
It targeted 116 individuals from 24 crime families, sought for criminal association, extortion, fraud, illegal possession of arms and other offences.
- How the brutal murder of an anti-mafia hero altered Sicily
- One of Italy's largest migrant centres was mafia run, police say
- At least 5,000 restaurants in Italy are thought to be mafia-run
Based on tightly knit clans, the 'Ndrangheta has its stronghold in Calabria, the "toe" of Italy, although recent arrests have shown it is also operating in northern Italy and has expanded to other European countries.
It is widely believed to have outstripped the better-known Sicilian and Neapolitan mafias through its successful cocaine trafficking from Latin America.
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