News from Italy

[Strax]

Anna Bettozzi singer , is also arrested. She has history with 'Ndrangheta , few years ago when police pulled over her Rolls-Royce they found 300,000$ in cash.

[Villain]

Some of you experts on the Italian Mafia should make a more thorough research on this case...

https://balkaninsight.com/2021/04/06/no ... t-forgers/

https://en.netpress.com.mk/2021/04/08/m ... -passport/

https://en.netpress.com.mk/2021/04/09/m ... regime-eu/

[Villain]

It seems that Italian, Albanian/Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonian and Turkish oc groups are quite connected....

[Wiseguy]

Italian Security Forces Arrest Almost 100 People in Counter-Mafia Operation
April 26, 2021

ROME (Sputnik) - Almost 100 people were arrested early Monday in the southern Italian region of Apulia as a result of a vast operation against organised crime, Italy's military police, the Carabinieri said.

An operation codenamed "Vortice Maestrale" has been held in the city of Bari through the joint efforts of special police units and the Carabinieri, with coordination from the local Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate. They targeted the powerful Strisciuglio mafia clan that controls almost all criminal activity in the Bari area.

Law enforcement troops sent 96 people to prison, and three more were put under house arrest. All of them have been charged with involvement in mafia activities, drug trafficking, extortion, causing grievous bodily harm, illegal possession and carrying of weapons, and other crimes. In total, 147 people are being probed under the case.

Monday's arrests come as part of a long-running investigation that has set up and documented in detail the criminal hierarchy and methods of gangsters' control of the area from 2015 to the present. Notably, some criminals involved in this case received arrest warrants in prison, where they are already serving sentences for other crimes.

Details of the operation will be unveiled at 11 a.m. local time (09:00 GMT) during a special press conference, where members of the administration of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Public Prosecution Office are expected to talk to reporters.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/sputniknew ... operation/

[elasticman]

Italian Security Forces Arrest Almost 100 People in Counter-Mafia Operation
April 26, 2021

ROME (Sputnik) - Almost 100 people were arrested early Monday in the southern Italian region of Apulia as a result of a vast operation against organised crime, Italy's military police, the Carabinieri said.

An operation codenamed "Vortice Maestrale" has been held in the city of Bari through the joint efforts of special police units and the Carabinieri, with coordination from the local Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate. They targeted the powerful Strisciuglio mafia clan that controls almost all criminal activity in the Bari area.

Law enforcement troops sent 96 people to prison, and three more were put under house arrest. All of them have been charged with involvement in mafia activities, drug trafficking, extortion, causing grievous bodily harm, illegal possession and carrying of weapons, and other crimes. In total, 147 people are being probed under the case.

Monday's arrests come as part of a long-running investigation that has set up and documented in detail the criminal hierarchy and methods of gangsters' control of the area from 2015 to the present. Notably, some criminals involved in this case received arrest warrants in prison, where they are already serving sentences for other crimes.

Details of the operation will be unveiled at 11 a.m. local time (09:00 GMT) during a special press conference, where members of the administration of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Public Prosecution Office are expected to talk to reporters.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/sputniknew ... operation/

Is this Cosa Nostra?

[Wiseguy]

Is this Cosa Nostra?

Sacra Corona Unita, I believe.

[elasticman]

Is this Cosa Nostra?

Sacra Corona Unita, I believe.

I understand why they do it, and it's convention now, but I dislike how mainstream news will just describe every organization from Italy as "mafia" and more digging is always required to determine which organization is actually being described.

[Wiseguy]

Is this Cosa Nostra?

Sacra Corona Unita, I believe.

I understand why they do it, and it's convention now, but I dislike how mainstream news will just describe every organization from Italy as "mafia" and more digging is always required to determine which organization is actually being described.

Yeah, in the stricter, more traditional sense of the word, "Mafia" refers to the Cosa Nostra in Sicily. But in more recent times, it's often used as a more generic, umbrella term for all the Italian OC groups.

[PolackTony]

Is this Cosa Nostra?

Sacra Corona Unita, I believe.

Correct, this was SCU. The Barese Strisciuglio clan is one of the “2nd gen” SCU clans that appear to have been making a comeback in Puglia in recent years.

[calabrianwatch]

This is indeed second generation SCU, but this clan is really different from SCU anyway - they are a lot more urban and their grip is fairly flexible. The reason why certain groups are mafia in Italy is not by accident, it's by law - every organisation that falls within article 416-bis (mafia association) , meaning any organisation, by whatever name, acts with the mafia method, is prosecuted as mafia.

[PolackTony]

This is indeed second generation SCU, but this clan is really different from SCU anyway - they are a lot more urban and their grip is fairly flexible. The reason why certain groups are mafia in Italy is not by accident, it's by law - every organisation that falls within article 416-bis (mafia association) , meaning any organisation, by whatever name, acts with the mafia method, is prosecuted as mafia.

Thanks for the further info.

My belief is that the Chicago Outfit had ties to SCU clans in Bari and Taranto in the ‘90s and 2000’s. I wonder if any of those ties have been maintained or rekindled with the rise of these “2nd gen” clans, and I’d love to know if Italian LE has any info or opinions on potential links. Let me know if you come across anything related.

[calabrianwatch]

I will keep an eye.. but this second generation seems to be very local and very disorganised lately...

[PolackTony]

I will keep an eye.. but this second generation seems to be very local and very disorganised lately...

Thanks. That does confirm what little I know about the current state of the SCU.

[Chopper]

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2021/0 ... ea93e.html

[aleksandrored]

The return to Mazara of Gaetano Riina, brother of Totò

Back to Mazara del Vallo Gaetano Riina, the elderly boss brother of the most famous boss of Cosa Nostra Totò Riina, who died three years ago.

"Zio Tano" is 87 years old and has been suffering from cancer for some time, for this reason the court of Turin, the city where he was detained in recent years, ordered his release. In Mazara del Vallo Gaetano Riina has a daughter and a granddaughter, and he will be able to follow the necessary treatments under the supervision of the carabinieri.


'Uncle Tano', born in 1933 in Corleone, one of the oldest inmates in Italy, is not a life sentence but has an end sentence set in 2023 as a result of a conviction for mafia-type association inflicted by the Naples Court of Appeal . In Turin he was in the Vallette prison, where he had also contracted Covid in recent months.

The medical report confirmed his "multiple pathologies" and the condition of "fragility", due to his advanced age, which exposes him to unpredictable worsening. In this proceeding he was assisted by the lawyers Vincenzo Coluccio, from Turin, and Maria Brucale, from Rome, of the 'Hands off Caino' association.

"Zù Tano" has already finished serving an eight-year sentence for the Mafia. He is in prison for another sentence, issued by the court of Naples, which found him guilty of having monopolized the distribution of fruit and vegetables in Southern Italy thanks to an alliance with some members of the Casalesi clan.

Riina, was arrested by the carabinieri of the Monreale and del Ros Group at his home in Mazara del Vallo in July 2011.
After three years of investigation, stalking and wiretapping, investigators believed that the regents of the reorganized Corleone clan were two of Totò's great-grandchildren. Riina invested more in the role of respected councilor of the clan, an old-fashioned godfather, always ready to dispense tips to the new generation, also to organize the lace racket, especially in the public sector.

Three years ago came the confiscation of assets for a total of 600,000 euros for Gaetano Riina. His assets were seized from him about a year ago. Since 2011, the year of his arrest, he has been imprisoned in Turin for crimes of mafia-type criminal association and aggravated extortion.
The Carabinieri seized a 10-room apartment located in Mazara del Vallo as well as 7 bank and insurance relationships attributable to the family unit.
The intervention, which will affect the municipality of Mazara del Vallo, provides for the seizure of 1 house of 10 rooms located in Mazara del Vallo and 7 banking and insurance relationships attributable to the family unit, for a total value, precisely, of 600 thousand euros.