A Calabrian businessman arrested
by Italian police on Tuesday in an operation against the
'Ndrangheta criminal organisation told a friend by phone "you
are there in Calabria, we are in Rome, but we are the same
thing, all one family", according to a police wiretap.
Ferruccio Bevilacqua, a businessman viewed as a top "white
collar" member of the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta, was among
several people arrested on Tuesday, accused of money laundering
and usury.
According to investigators, Bevilacqua replicated his
previous illegal business dealings in Calabria in Rome after
being ordered to stay in the capital in 2009 due to his links
with the powerful Mancuso clan.
He bought up several bars around Piazza Bologna to help
carry out illegal activities. When lending, his criminal gang
would apply interest rates of between 160 and 600 percent.
Rome prosecutor Michele Prestipino said that mafia clans
working in Rome do not just invest and lend illegal money, but
they are also involved in criminal sectors such as usury, drugs
and extortion.
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