![]() Italy's main mafia groups © Cléa PÉCULIER / AFPĪ bloody feud between rival clans from San Luca had helped raise global awareness about the 'Ndrangheta in 2007, when six people were killed outside a pizzeria in the German town of Duisburg. The operation was focused on a criminal network led by several 'Ndrangheta families based in the town of San Luca, in the southern Italian province of Reggio Calabria. Operation Eureka "now stands as the largest hit involving the Italian poly-criminal syndicate to date", the agency said in a statement. Both suspects worked in the restaurant business. Police in the French Mediterranean port of Nice said officers had arrested two men of Italian nationality there as well as raiding addresses in the city and nearby Antibes. ![]() Most of the arrests were in Italy, the others concentrated in Germany and Belgium, in an operation Europol said involved more than 2,770 police officers. Rooted in the southern Italian region of Calabria, the crime organisation is Italy's most powerful mafia, operating in more than 40 countries.īesides its main source of wealth - drug trafficking - it is involved in money laundering, extortion, trafficking of illegal waste and other criminal activities, using shell companies to invest illegal gains in the legitimate economy worldwide. The suspects were accused of crimes including mafia association, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering and tax fraud, following a top-secret probe that confirmed the global reach of the 'Ndrangheta. Separately, Italian authorities said assets and property worth 25 million euros ($27.6 million) had been seized in Italy, Portugal, Germany and France. represent another important result in the fight against criminal organisations," said Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi. "The arrests of 'Ndrangheta members in Italy and abroad. ![]() The prosecutors said around 150 addresses were raided across Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Romania. "It is likely the biggest operation ever carried out in Europe against the Calabrese mafia," said Eric van Duyse, spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutors' office, which began the investigation five years ago. ![]() Some 132 people were taken into custody in early morning raids as part of a blitz involving eight European countries plus Brazil and Panama, according to EU law enforcement agency Europol. ![]()
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