Italy seizes mafia assets worth US$2.2b
Print Edition
Italian police said yesterday they had seized assets worth 2 billion euros (US$2.2 billion) belonging to a powerful organized crime syndicate, in the latest sting against the mafia.
The assets snatched from the Ndrangheta mafia, which controls much of Europe鈥檚 cocaine business, included more than 1,500 betting shops, 82 online gambling sites and almost 60 companies, as well as numerous properties, according to the police.
Prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 28 people suspected of running the gambling empire and placed 23 others either under house arrest or ordered them to check in with the police.
The crew is believed to have been headed by mobster Mario Gennaro, who made his way up through the mob in the southern region of Calabria from local to regional chief because of the gambling ring鈥檚 success.
The 鈥楴drangheta is considered the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy, having surpassed Sicily鈥檚 Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra thanks to the wealth it has amassed as the principal importer and wholesaler of cocaine produced in Latin America and smuggled into Europe via north Africa and southern Italy. Profits from the trade, which is worth billions, were laundered through the gambling empire.
The gang 鈥渞ecycled an enormous amount of 鈥榙irty鈥 money through the use of gaming accounts assigned to willing or unwitting people,鈥 police said.
鈥淭hey bypassed the laws governing this sector, accumulating significant profits that were then reinvested in the acquisition of new companies and licences to further expand their activities.鈥
Eleven of the companies seized were based abroad, in Austria, Malta, Romania and Spain. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described the sting in Reggio Calabria as 鈥渁 serious blow to the 鈥楴drangheta.鈥
The name 鈥楴drangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organization鈥檚 tight clan-based structure has made it hard to penetrate.
Dozens of alleged mobsters linked to the group were detained at the end of last year in and around Milan on charges of criminal association and extortion. Police released secretly-filmed footage of men undergoing initiation into 鈥淪anta鈥 (holy) membership, whereby promoted mobsters swore allegiance to their new 鈥渨ise brothers.鈥
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