Four arrests, 30 mn assets seized in Camorra sweep
Campania deputy speaker's firm sequestered but pol not probed

(ANSA) - Naples, June 16 - Italian police on Monday arrested four people and seized assets worth 30 million euros in a probe into the activities of a top Camorra clan with activities in northern Naples, other Italian regions and foreign countries.
Among the assets seized from the Polverino clan was a Carrefour supermarket near Naples and a construction company owned by the deputy speaker of the Campania regional assembly, Biagio Iacolare, who was not among those placed under investigation.
"I haven't dealt with that company for 10 years," said Iacolare, a member of the small centrist Catholic UDC party.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...4d5f932a11.html

a member of the puccinelli clan, ciro paradisone, has been gunned down in napoli inside his car

http://www.solonotizie24.it/wip/2014/06/...uccinelli/36892

a drug dealer, francesco camisa, has been gunned down in bari

http://www.baritoday.it/cronaca/altamura-omicidio-francesco-camisa-16-giugno-2014.html

Palermo 'Zen' district Mafia chief nabbed
17 arrests on drugs charges

(ANSA) - Palermo, June 18 - Italian police on Wednesday arrested the presumed head of Cosa Nostra in Palermo's crime-ridden Zen district, Guido Spina, on suspicion of running a "huge" drugs operation there.
Police said Spina, among 17 arrested, demanded protection money from shops and firms as well as residents of the notorious Zen housing estate.
To keep locals happy with his "reign," they said, he hired a popular Palermo sentimental-ballad singer for a concert there.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...2f516a912d.html

Camorrista shot dead in Naples
Ciro the Sandwich, 34, dies on way to hospital

(ANSA) - Naples, June 18 - A member of a top Camorra clan was shot dead in Naples Wednesday.
The 34-year-old Ciro Mercurio, aka "Ciro 'o panino" (Ciro the Sandwich), died on his way to hospital from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the Fuorigrotta quarter.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...07549314d7.html

'Ndrangheta top Mob in Emilia-Romagna
'Ndrangheta infiltration in post-quake reconstruction contracts

(ANSA) - Bologna, June 18 - A law-enforcement meeting in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region on Wednesday found that the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia is the most infiltrated in this wealthy northern region, where it has caused a rise in financial wrongdoing and in the overall crime rate.
The meeting of prefects, police commissioners, Carabinieri military police, and tax police commanders found that 55 companies involved in reconstruction in the wake of two major earthquakes that killed 26 people and caused widespread damage in May 2012 have been black-listed after investigators found they had mafia links.
Of these, more than half had links with the 'Ndrangheta, and the rest were connected to the Sicilian Mafia and the Naples-based Camorra mafia.
The 'Ndrangheta is believed to be the most powerful of Italy's mafias for its virtual stranglehold on the European cocaine trade.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_...659e6d15bb.html

32 Sacra Corona Unita arrests in Taranto
Accused of mafia conspiracy, drug trafficking

(ANSA) - Taranto, June 17 - Italian police on Tuesday arrested 32 suspected members of the Sacra Corona Unita (SCU, United Holy Crown), the mafia group operating in Puglia.
"We have decapitated the clan," police said after charging those arrested with a slew of crimes ranging from mafia conspiracy to drug trafficking.
The SCU is Italy's fourth mafia after the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra in Sicily and the Camorra in Naples.

Pope Francis has condemned the mafia's "adoration of evil" at a mass in Calabria, the southern Italian base of the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate.

The Pope said the gangsters were effectively "excommunicated" - or banished - in the eyes of the Church.

Earlier, the Pope visited the jailed father of a three-year-old boy who had been killed in an apparent mob hit over an unpaid drug debt.

The Pope has repeatedly spoken out against organised crime and corruption.

His latest condemnation, delivered before a crowd of tens of thousands, described the 'Ndrangheta as the "adoration of evil and contempt of the common good".

"Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mafiosi do, are not in communion with God," the Reuters news agency quoted him as saying. "They are excommunicated."

Meeting with prisoners

The 'Ndrangheta is a network of clans in the "toe" of Italy that dominates the country's cocaine trade.

It is one of the most powerful mafia organisations in Italy, along with the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra.

Earlier on Saturday, the Pope visited a prison to meet the jailed relatives of "Coco" Campolongo, a three-year-old boy who was killed along with his grandfather in an execution-style shooting in Calabria.

"It must never again happen that a child suffers in this way," the Pope said.

The Pope also met hundreds of other inmates at Castrovillari prison, many of whom are serving time for mafia-related crimes.

The AFP news agency reports that many of the prisoners wept as the Pope greeted them.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27956554

NYC cop killer maybe uncovered 100 years later in Palermo
Joe Petrosino, pioneering anti-Mafia officer, shot in 1909

(ANSA) - Palermo, June 23 - Italian police may have uncovered who was behind the infamous murder over 100 years ago of Italian-American New York City police officer Joe Petrosino, it emerged Monday after police arrested 95 suspected Mafia suspects in Palermo. Among those arrested included Domenico Palazzotto, who was caught bragging in police recordings that "the uncle of his father, Paolo Palazzotto, committed the murder of the first police officer killed in Palermo, Joe Petrosino, on behalf of Cascio Ferro" in 1909. Vito Cascio Ferro (1862-1943) was a boss of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra who also operated in the United States.
He was let off charges of assassinating Petrosino, a pioneering anti-Mafia policeman who had traveled to Palermo on a top-secret mission that was leaked to the American press. Petrosino continued on his mission despite the danger, believing the Mafia would not dare harm a member of law enforcement. While waiting to meet with someone who claimed to be an informant, Petrosino was ambushed and gunned down in Piazza Marina. Charges against the suspected assassin's heir and others arrested Monday ranged from extorsion and association in a criminal network, in the towns of Resuttana and San Lorenzo. Police code-named the operation Apocalypse.

↓http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06 ... 64c72.html

pretty ballsy to bragg about a 105yrs old murder. surprised this wasn't a bigger story. mmd day is coming soon. I was thinking won of his own would take him out, or a cop pops him. I think Europe is sick of this shit.

54 arrests in 'Ndrangheta sweep across Italy
25 mn euros seized in Calabria, Lazio, Umbria

(ANSA) - Rome, June 24 - Italian police arrested 54 people in three Italian regions in a sweep against a top clan in the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia Tuesday.
Police said the Mole' clan had a "significant arms trade with Eastern Europe as well as huge drugs trafficking with North Africa".
They said the clan reinvested the proceeds in "large swathes of the legal economy in Calabria, Lazio and Umbria".
Police seized assets worth some 25 million euros in the operation.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...6875ad9b69.html

Seven arrests for mafia dealings in L'Aquila reconstruction
Business people accused of working with Camorra's Casalesi clan

(ANSA) - Rome, June 25 - Italian finance police on Wednesday arrested seven business people for alleged mafia dealings in post-earthquake reconstruction efforts on private residences in L'Aquila. The business people allegedly helped the Casalesi clan of the Neapolitan Camorra mafia infiltrate rebuilding following the devastating 2009 earthquake in the central region of Abruzzo that killed 309 people, destroyed much of regional capital and left tens of thousands homeless. Four of the suspects were being taken in jail and three put under house arrest.
The detainees are accused of extortion aggravated by mafia methods, illicit intermediation and exploitation.
Finance police are also conducting dozens of seizures related to the suspects in L'Aquila, Caserta and Rome. The arrests follow five arrests last week in a corruption probe related to the restoration of two important churches wrecked by the earthquake.
Former deputy commissioner for reconstruction, Luciano Marchetti, an official of the culture ministry, and his colleague Alessandra Mancinelli, were arrested together with three businessmen on suspicion of corruption, perjury, bid-rigging, fraudulently influencing public officials and issuing and using non-existent invoices.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...fbd04f083a.html

Mafia ex-lifer killed in ambush near Catania
Wife slightly hurt in hit on car

(ANSA) - Catania, June 27 - A man who was recently released from a life sentence for Mafia crimes was shot dead in an ambush near Catania Friday.
Salvatore Leanza, 55, died instantly as a hail of bullets from helmet-clad motorbike assassins hit his car. His wife, who was driving, was slightly hurt in the hit, police said.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...54184bd166.html

A lot of arrests in Sicily,in last few months.17 arrested in Zen,not to mention 90+ arrested this week.What do you guys think,how this will affect Sicilian Mafia in Palermo?

the people arrested will be replaced by others so i don't think it affects it so much

20 arrests in Turin 'Ndrangheta probe
'Huge control' over tenders in province

(ANSA) - Turin, July 1 - Italian police on Tuesday arrested 20 people in a probe into suspected infiltration by the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia into the legal economy in and around Turin.
Police said the Calabrian Mob had managed to gain "huge control" over public-sector tenders in the province of Turin.
Some 15 million euros in 'Ndrangheta-linked assets were seized during the course of the operation.

Government must 'adopt' Calabria to crush Ndrangheta: Bindi
Anti-Mafia head urges long term investment campaign for region

(ANSA) - Imperia, July 7 - Italy's government needs "to adopt" Calabria with a constellation of long term investments to combat "deep penetration" of the southern region by the'Ndrangheta crime gang, Anti-Mafia commission president Rosy Bindi said Monday.
"The government must decide to adopt Calabria," Bindi said during a visit to the northern city of Imperia, "It must do so, reinforcing the police, providing enough magistrates but also through economic and social policy".
The relationship between the 'ndrangheta and Calabrian society is "a relationship of deep penetration and as such it needs very lengthy work in which the state must commit itself to the hilt," said Bindi, who recently visited Calabria.
"The state must decide to bring the 'ndrangheta to its knees in Calabria and wherever it spreads its structure," she said.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/07/...84305a476f.html

Raid targets Madrid-based Camorra clan
More than 30 arrests made so far in joint operation between Spanish and Italian authorities

Spanish and Italian law enforcement authorities have busted a mafia clan that ran money laundering and drug operations in both countries.

Around 30 arrests have been made so far in an ongoing raid against a branch of the Camorra mafia group. The operation involves the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard, the Spanish High Court and the Naples Anti-Mafia Attorney’s Office.

The ring was well established in Spain through real estate and hotel ventures, and served as a go-between for mafia bosses back in Naples. The Spanish unit bought millions of euros worth of drugs in Colombia, using Camorra money, and took care of transportation and storage.

The ring was firmly established in Spain through real estate and hotel ventures
The money, plus the return on investment, was transferred back to Naples, and the profit made by the Spanish operators was concealed through its business network. The network laundered millions of euros through hotel and real estate firms that faked losses. The investigation is supported by hundreds of hours of wiretaps and video footage capturing alleged meetings between mafia members.

Most Spanish arrests are taking place in the Madrid region. The ring was particularly active in towns northwest of the capital, such as Majadahonda and Villanueva de la Cañada, where it had investments worth more than €8 million and owned apparently ruinous Italian food restaurants.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/07/08/inenglish/1404813581_025658.html

Giuseppe Conti Taguali, 54, was shot dead in the town of Cesarò (Messina) in a mafia-style murder; he was the brother of Gianfranco Conti Taguali, reputed head of the Santapaola family in the town of Bronte (Catania)

A probe into modern day Cosa Nostra crime in Sicily stumbled upon evidence which appears to have solved a 100-year-old Mafia murder mystery. Police arrested 95 people on Monday (June 23) for extortion, drug trafficking and money laundering.

But, in the process, Italian officers may also have solved the century-old mob murder of a New York detective. Joe Petrosino, a New York police detective, was shot dead while on the island to collect evidence for a Mafia probe in 1909.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/06/23/italian-police-solve-century-old-mafia-killing/

360 mn euros seized from Mafia-linked businessman
'Articulated corporate plots', says Palermo's DIA

(ANSA) - Palermo, July 18 - Italy's Anti-Mafia Investigation Department (DIA) seized 360 million euros in real estate and financial assets from a Mafia-linked businessman on Friday in a small town near Palermo.
DIA director Arturo de Felice led agents to seize more than 360 million euros of assets including corporate holdings, private real estate and bank accounts from 47-year-old Stefano Parra, 47, in findings they said were "complex and articulated corporate plots, even through a third natural or legal party, by which Parra was able to control considerable corporate holdings and real estate".
Parra was previously arrested in May 2000 for Mafia-related crimes including the delivery of explosives used for illumination in caves where the bodies of Mafia victims were hidden.

Good read on La Stidda from this week's news. It's in Italian, though.


Stidda The fifth mafia: The story of the children who defied Cosa Nostra

http://www.grandangoloagrigento.it/stidd...-a-cosa-nostra/

I've been a fan of Giovani Ribelli since he played Phoebe's brother on "Friends."

And it's killing me to not use a smiley here, Lady.

That's Giovanni Ribisi, ya numbnut. Oh you are soooo not good at this.

It was a joke but I didn't want to use a smiley!!

lol lol (see what I did there?)

Antonino Zarcone started cooperating with police,he is a capo from Bagheria.I can post article but its in italian.

Cops bust intl coke-trafficking ring
After finance guardsman refuses 100,000-euro bribe

(ANSA) - Brindisi, March 31 - The finance guard on Tuesday arrested four men and are seeking three more on suspicion of forming an international drug trafficking ring that brought cocaine from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The seven arrested in the southern Puglia and Calabria regions face charges of criminal association with intent to acquire, import, transport, possess, distribute and sell drugs.

Police have detained Francesco and Vittorio Pezzuto, aged 71 and 48, from the town of Squinzano in Puglia, as well as Giuseppe Novello, 34, and Stefano Condina, 59, from Calabria.

Squinzano-based brothers Antonio and Patrizio Pellegrino and one Colombian national have escaped arrest and are being sought by police.

The investigation kicked off in 2013 when the alleged traffickers offered a finance guard who was posted to Brindisi port 100,000 euros to look the other way while the drugs were moved in.

He reported the attempted bribery instead.

The organization allegedly brought shipments of 70-100 kilos of cocaine - worth about four million euros each - into Genoa and Gioia Tauro ports disguised in canned asparagus and banana shipments.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2015/03 ... 81a4a.html

9 mafia-related murders in italy in the last two weeks

cosa nostra: franco mazzè,46, member of the zen family killed in palermo, paolo forestieri,25, killed near siracusa, salvatore cutrone,66, and francesco torrisi,27 killed near catania

ndrangheta: fiore gentile,54, member of the arena family killed near crotone and pietro procopio,60, killed near catanzaro

camorra: antonio pastella,38, member of the amato family and ciro d'ambrosio,42, both killed in naples

sacra corona unita: severino palumbo killed near foggia

Cellino ex-mayor, executive councillors arrested - update 2
Town council dissolved in April 2014 for mafia infiltration

(ANSA) - Cellino San Marco, April 10 - Police on Friday arrested 14 people relation to a corruption probe, including the former mayor of the Puglia town of Cellino San Marco, near Brindisi, and several ex-members of the council executive. The municipality was put in the hands of commissioners appointed by central government for mafia infiltration in April 2014. The former mayor, criminal lawyer and Forza Italia member Francesco Cascione, has been taken to jail.
Those arrested are suspected of crimes ranging from criminal association to embezzlement. Four entrepreneurs from the provinces of Brindisi, Bari and Lecce were also among the people arrested along with a person considered close to Puglia's Sacra Corona Unita mafia syndicate. Investigators suspected that a criminal organisation headed by Cascione manipulated public contracts and staff selection procedures, including one for municipal police officers, in exchange for bribes.

@m2w: Here is the video of franco mazzè shot dead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-5dWLrNSlE

Police arrested the fugitive Sebastiano 'Nuccio' Mazzei, acting boss of the Mazzei crime family, led by his father Santo Mazzei.