19 Camorra, 'Ndrangheta arrests in Rome (5)

(ANSA) - Rome, March 21 - Italian police made 19 arrests in Rome Wednesday as they bust two mafia groups, one linked to the Naples Camorra and the other to the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, operating in the Italian capital. Around 200 Carabinieri fanned out in the provinces of Rome and Naples to make the arrests with the help of sniffer dogs and helicopters.
    The arrestees are suspected of conspiracy to traffic cocaine aggravated by the use of weapons, and drug pushing.
    Two of them have also been charged with grievous bodily harm, committed with firearms and mafia methods, judicial sources said.
    Sixteen of the 19 were placed under arrest in prison and three were placed under house arrest.
    Among those arrested are several people of Albanian origin and a woman, police said.
    Among these was Albanian-origin Arben Zogu, a well-known Lazio soccer ultra and considered close to Rome gang boss Massimo Carminati, notorious for the 'Middle World' corruption and extortion probes.
    Some 44 raids are ongoing on gang members resident in the Roman quarter of San Basilio and also in Naples, Nettuno near Rome and other towns near the Italian capital, judicial sources said. The raids were against pushers, look-outs and various bagmen for the two groups.
    Investigators said they had identified two "separate and strong" criminal groups, both armed and dedicated to narco-trafficking and "working in close synergy", judicial sources said.
    One of these is a Camorra group led by the brothers Salvatore and Genny Esposito, sons of Luigi aka'Nacchella'.
    The other is an 'Ndrangheta group led by Vincenzo Polito, which relied on the support of 'Ndrangheta clans in the province of Reggio Calabria, the Filippone and Gallico families, which are present in the Italian capital.