An extensive investigation, during which the police arrested more than 30 members of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, showed that many illegal mafia activities also extended to Austria and Germany, the Italian authorities announced.
The suspects, including politicians from Calabria, are suspected of involvement in mafia deals, murder, extortion, embezzlement, holding public tenders and bribery, the police said.
As the prosecutor said at the press conference Nicola Graters, one of the most famous Italian investigators and fighters against the mafia, many politicians and civil servants were in the clutches of the mafia in 2014 and 2020. According to the police, 22 people were arrested, 12 of them are under house arrest, four are suspended, and three are not allowed to leave their hometown. A total of 123 people were investigated, including the former governor of Calabria.
Prosecutors from Stuttgart and the German Federal Police participated in the investigation.
The ‘Ndrangheta is suspected of running illegal trade from south to north through real estate deals, catering, hospitality, fruit and vegetable trading and livestock, as well as security services and video pokerthe police said.
The mobsters also did business with Austrian fruit and vegetable traders and collaborated with German hackers to carry out fraudulent banking and financial transactions on secret trading platforms. platforms.
Tuesday’s crackdown on the mafia followed two major police operations in May, which led to more than 100 arrests across Europe and the unraveling of a drug-trafficking ring that relied on shadowy networks of Chinese money brokers. At the end of April, after almost five years on the run, they were caught Pasquale Bonavotoone of the leading bosses of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia group, who was also on the list of the most dangerous criminals.
The ‘Ndrangheta, which has its roots in Calabria in the south of Italy, has gone beyond the Sicilian Something Nostro is now the most powerful Italian mafia group, it is also considered one of the largest criminal networks in the world.
Source: Rtvslo
