Italian police on Thursday smashed
the Verona branch of the Calabrian-based 'Ndrangheta mafia,
Italy's richest and most powerful organised crime group.
They said the Verona 'locale' was autonomous but linked to
the Arena-Nicoscia clan of Isola Capo Rizzuto, in the province
of Crotone.
Some 26 alleged clan members were arrested on charges of
mafia association, fraud, money laundering, extortion, drug
trafficking, corruption, bid rigging, fraudulent transfer of
goods and assets and issuing false invoices.
Some 17 people were taken to prison for detention there while
another six were placed under house arrest and three were
ordered to report to police.
'Ndrangheta, which controls the European cocaine trade, has
long infiltrated the economy of northern Italy as well as
expanding across the globe to set up strong branches in the US,
Canada, Australia and other countries.
Police said they had gathered "serious evidence" of
'Ndrangheta activities in Verona.
The boss who managed the Mob's activities in the Verona area
was Antonio Gardino aka 'Totareddu', a man close to the
Arena-Nicoscia clan, police said.
Police seized some 15 million euros in assets from the
'locale'.
They said it was mainly the fruit of money laundering and
drug pushing, as well as from dummy companies that dodged taxes
and churned out cash for the clan.
'Ndrangheta has overtaken Sicily's Cosa Nostra as Italy's
richest and most dangerous mafia.
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