Hundreds of police officers in
Foggia were conducting a major operation on Monday carrying out
dozens of sweeping searches for weapons, drugs, and possible
fugitives from justice.
As part of the operation, police were executing arrest
warrants issued by district anti-mafia judges for suspects
accused of attempted extortion of local business owners.
The Foggia mafia is "emulating" the Calabrian-based
'Ndrangheta mafia in its "expansionistic" goals, and is
cultivating a similar 'middle ground' between mafiosi,
businessmen, professionals and civil servants as Italy's richest
and most powerful mafia, the National Anti-Mafia Investigative
Directorate (DIA) said in its six-monthly report to parliament
Friday.
A bomb was set off early on Thursday at a day centre for the
elderly in the southern city of Foggia owned by a group that
employs a witness in a investigation into the local mafia,
sources said.
It was the latest in a long series of mafia attacks including
turf-war murders by the Foggia mafia, part of the Sacra Corona
Unita (SCU, Holy United Crown) mafia in the region of Puglia.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
