In a major operation by the Italian police, some 250 million euros worth of assets belonging to the Calabrian mafia, the feared Ndrangheta, have been seized, official sources reported on Thursday.
About 56 people, most of them arrested for belonging to the mafia, were charged with extortion, kidnapping, corruption and illegal possession of weapons, the Italian prosecutor’s office said.
About 300 agents took part in the operation, which was carried out in an area controlled by the Mancuso clan, one of the most powerful families of the Calabrian mafia.
The operation was carried out in parallel with the trial of hundreds of Ndrangheta members that has been ongoing since 2021, which has already brought about 355 people to justice, accused of crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering and influence peddling.
Among those questioned is Luigi Mancuso, leader of the so-called “ndrinas”, according to the organization’s terminology, and leader for decades in the province of Vibo Valentia.
Built around family ties in one of Italy’s poorest regions, the Ndrangheta learned to operate in silence and exercise its power and oppression, without committing major blood crimes.
Undervalued for decades, it became the main importer and distributor of cocaine in Europe, even surpassing Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia.
Source: DN
