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If we had a dollar for every time we heard about a ‘major operation’ against the Italian Mafia, supposed to ‘break the back’ of the criminal organization, we probably could retire early, flush with cash.
But yesterday (11), the Italian police arrested almost 150 people in the largest operation in 40 years, targeting the Sicilian mafia in Palermo and surrounding areas that remain in the grip of powerful Cosa Nostra clans.
CBS News reported:
“Warrants were issued against a total of 183 people, 36 of whom were already in custody, for crimes including mafia-type criminal association, attempted murder, extortion, drug trafficking and illegal gambling, police said. More than 1,200 officers were involved in dawn raids, in what media reports said was the biggest operation against the Cosa Nostra since 1984.”
While the Sicilian mafia no longer has the power it once had, it’s still a force to be reckoned with.
It has been subject to endless crackdowns by the Italian authorities, and was eventually overtaken by the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta criminal organization.
“Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed the operation, which she said ‘confirms the state’s constant commitment to the fight against organized crime’. Palermo Mayor Roberto Lagalla also praised the operation, saying in a statement that the arrests ‘dealt a historic blow to the mafia’.”
Yesterday’s operation attempts to dismantle Mafia clans in several districts of the Sicilian capital Palermo and surrounding areas.
“Police described how the clans cooperated on drug trafficking – a major source of income – while also working with mobsters elsewhere in Sicily and with the ‘Ndrangheta on the Italian mainland. Within its territory, the mafia ‘exercises constant control’, police said.”
From demanding protection money from businesses to forcing commerce to use their price-inflated products, much continues like in the old days.
Disputes between mobsters nowadays are usually settled peacefully, but violence is still very much a part of their modus operandi.
The omertá is still their law, but now they use encrypted smartphones to communicate.
“And despite numerous arrests over the years, the Sicilian mafia ‘still manages to attract a large number of young people who embrace its principles’ and offer to work for them, police said. Last March, Italy expanded a controversial program to remove children from their mafia families to break the cycle of criminal behavior being passed down to new generations.
[…] The Sicilian Mafia for many years terrorized the Italian public and state, notorious for the killings anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. But that led to a fierce state clampdown and the ‘Ndrangheta is now considered Italy’s wealthiest and most powerful mafia, which controls the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe.”
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