Italian police have detained nearly 150 people on Tuesday as a result of a serious operation against the Sicilian Mafia in Palemilm, the areas of which remain in the clutch of the powerful Cosa Nostra clans.
A total of 183 people were issued orders, 36 of which were already in custody, for crimes, including the criminal association of the mafia, attempted murder, extortion, drug turnover and illegal games, police said.
More than 1,200 officers have participated in dawn raids, with media reports had the largest operation against Cosa Nostra since 1984.
The Sicilian mafia, the inspiration for the “godfather” films, is no longer a force he had previously, subject to many years of repression of the authorities and overtook the power and wealth of Calabria “Ndrangheta.
But Palemo police said their two -year probe revealed how he “continues to support his power”, these days, agreed on encrypted smartphones.
Prime Minister Georgia Meloni welcomed an operation, which, she said, “confirms the state's permanent commitment to combating organized crime.”
Palermo Mayor Roberto Lagala also praised the operation, Speak in the statement that arrests “struck a historical strike on the mafia”.
Mafia “Permanent Control Exercises”
The operation on Tuesday was aimed at dismantling the Mafia clans in several areas of the capital of Sicilian Palemilm and its surrounding areas after the investigation, which gives an understanding of how they work.
Police told how clans cooperated on drug trafficking – the main source of income – while working with Mobsters elsewhere in Sicily, as well as with “Ndrangheta on the Italian mainland.
On its territory, the mafia “carries out constant control”, – the police said.
As in the past decades, they require “Pizzo” or cash from enterprises and enterprises that force traders to use their products, often at high prices.
In one example, investigators showed how the clan took control of the distribution of mussels and other seafood to the restaurants in two seaside villages.
While the Cosa Nostra bosses these days are trying to resolve disputes peacefully to avoid attracting attention, the weapon was found on Blitz on Tuesday, police reported, reporting about the cases of brutal beating.
The old rules of the organization from top down and membership until death still contains, but the police said the clans were “relevant” using encrypted smartphones for communication to avoid traditional meetings.
And despite many arrests for many years, the Sicilian Mafia “still managed to attract a large number of young people who perceive its principles” and offer to work on them, police said. Last March, Italy expanded the controversial program To remove children from their mafia families, to break a cycle of criminal behavior, which passes to new generations.
The new investigation has also discovered a wide network of informants with a Palemo Prosecutor's Office arrested in November last year, accused of transferring files.
For many years, the Sicilian mafia has been terrorized by the Italian public and the state, notorious for the murder of judges to combat mafia Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borselin in 1992.
But this has led to the hard oppression of the state, and “the Neprageta is now considered the richest and most powerful mafia of Italy, which controls the bulk of the cocaine entering Europe.
Matteo Messina Denar, condemned by the inspirer some of the most horrific killings of Cosa Nostra Mafia, died in September 2023, a few months after being captured as fugitive Italy No. 1 And after decades on the run.
But the Italy mafia still has an influence that extends from tourism to prisons. In December, a The Research Institute has warned What the Italian Mafia makes more than three billion euros a year from the tourist sector. In the same month, a Catholic nun was arrested Italian police for allegedly brought messages to the mafia for prisoners.