There is no part of Italy as distant in the popular imagination from the arid, mafia-ridden Mezzogiorno as Umbria. Yet on Wednesday police arrested 61 people in dawn raids that focused on the region the tourist posters describe as “the green heart of Italy”. Police said the arrests stemmed from “widespread infiltration” by the ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria of the local economy in the province of Perugia. They highlighted more dramatically than ever before the extent to which Italy’s organised crime syndicates have spread from their southern homelands to the rest of the country. A statement said the ‘Ndrangheta had used arson and intimidation to penetrate legitimate businesses in Umbria, particularly in the construction industry. Evidence brought to light in an investigation codenamed Operation Fourth Step included the terrorising of a local businesswoman who found a severed lamb’s head outside her premises, and a wiretap in which one of the alleged mobsters appears to foretell a murder. A voice on the recording is heard to say: “If we see him … we leave him dead in front of the bar.” Another of the suspects was said to have reminded a local that in Calabria “it is the custom to embed [the victims of the ‘Ndrangheta] in cement casts”. Police impounded goods and froze assets worth more than €30m (£24m) during Wednesday’s operation. Offences of which those arrested were accused include extortion, loan-sharking, fraud, drug-trafficking and living off immoral earnings. Trials and investigations in recent years have shown the ‘Ndrangheta had succeeded in establishing a daunting presence in the industrialised north of Italy and around the financial capital, Milan. But reports of organised criminal activity in Umbria had until now focused on a faction of the Camorra, the mafia of the region around Naples. Advertisement According to the Italian revenue guard, the Guardia di Finanza, the Camorra has made extensive property acquisitions in the area as a way of laundering the proceeds of crime. Operation Fourth Step came as further details emerged of an organised crime syndicate operating in Rome, another traditionally mafia-free zone. The capital’s mobsters were not sworn members of any of the southern-based groups, but evidence has surfaced to indicate that they had links with them. An investigation into the gang in Rome found evidence of extensive bribing of local officials. Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, said his government would on Thursday approve draft legislation to stiffen the penalties for corruption. The latest raids took place as police in Reggio Calabria, the biggest city in the ‘Ndrangheta’s heartland, launched a dragnet code-named Operation Godfather. The operation was thought to stem from the arrest four years ago of Giovanni Tegano, who at the time was one of Italy’s 30 most wanted mobsters. Tegano, who spent 17 years in hiding, is currently serving a life sentence.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 03:56:15 +0000
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