Rome's Casamonica crime clan suffered another big blow on Thursday when 22 people allegedly belonging to it were arrested in an operation by Carabinieri police. The operation aimed to break up an alleged criminal association to deal drugs in Rome's Via del Quadraro and Porta Furba districts that was estimated to have generated over 100,000 euros a month.
"It is another blow to the clan. The institutions are present," said Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi. The Casamonicas, who have Roma and Traveller origins, have long been considered the most powerful mafia-style group in Rome.
The clan is thought to have around 1,000 members and is involved in illegal activities ranging from loan sharking to drug trafficking, according to investigators.
The clan has accumulation millions of euros that it has invested in villas, luxury cars and race horses, among other assets.
There was a scandal in 2015 when one clan boss had a Godfather-like funeral complete with music from the iconic film and rose petals dropped onto a horse-drawn hearse from a helicopter.
In July last year the gang suffered a major blow when 37 people were arrested in an operation targeting it.
The clan was bust wide open, police said, thanks to the State's evidence of the sister-in-law of a boss, the partner of Massimiliano Casamonica, brother of clan chieftain Giuseppe Casamonica.
Never accepted by the clan, she is now under police protection and her identity is being protected too, investigators said.
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