Cops nab 13 'Ndrangheta suspects in Lombardy

(ANSA) - Milan, October 28 - Carabinieri police on Tuesday arrested 13 people on mafia charges in the regions of Lombardy and Calabria. They were arrested on a variety of charges including mafia association, illegal weapons possession, money laundering, abuse of office, and arson in relation to real estate speculation and contract-rigging in public works projects for the Milan Expo 2015 world fair. The investigation centred on two groups allegedly belonging to Calabria's powerful 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate and operating in and around the northern city of Como. Investigators claim the suspects had links with politicians, public officials, bankers and businessmen, including a corrections officer, an inland revenue official, a real estate developer and local councillors. Among them is former Rho city councillor Luigi Calogero Addisi, who was arrested on suspicion of money laundering, abuse of office and aiding and abetting organized crime after he allegedly bought land, then voted for it to be rezoned, thus upping its value.
    Police also nabbed four members of the Galati 'Ndrangheta clan. Among them is Giuseppe Galati, owner of a company called Skavedil, which obtained an anti-mafia certification before procuring two Expo-related sub-contracts worth 450,000 euros, Milan prosecutor Ilda Boccassini said.
    Galati also allegedly ordered a traffic cop's car burned after the officer recognized him on the street conversing with a known criminal and reported him, costing him his parole. In recent years the 'Ndrangheta has replaced Sicily's Cosa Nostra as Italy's most powerful crime syndicate through its dominance of the European cocaine trade. It is historically based in Calabria but has increasingly infiltrated the north.