Carabinieri police on Tuesday detained
22 people in a big operation targetting Sicily's Stidda mafia
clans, sources said.
The operation was linked to an investigation which revealed that
fugitive Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro is still
recognised as the leader who decides who is promoted or demoted
in the Sicilian Mafia, despite having been on the run since
1993.
It also showed that relations between the American and Sicilian
mafias were never broken off,
A criminal lawyer whose offices were allegedly used for meetings
of mafia bosses was among the people arrested.
According to the probe, two lifers who had obtained semi-libety
were in charge of reorganizing the Stidda; Italy's fifth mafia
after 'Ndrangheta from Calabria, Cosa Nostra from Sicily, the
Camorra from Naples and the Sacra Corona Unita from Puglia.
The lifers also allegedly exchanged messages with bosses being
held under the tough 41 bis jail regime.
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