Italian police on Thursday carried
out dozens of arrests across Italy against a "criminal cartel"
composed of businessmen and public officials that allegedly
rigged contracts in favour of the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta
mafia.
The probe targeted "the business and entrepreneurial
profiles" of the Piromallis, a clan operating in the Piana di
Gioia Tauro.
Finance guards also seized assets and companies worth some
103 million euros.
Some 500 finance guards sprang into action in Calabria,
in the provinces of Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro, Cosenza and Vibo
Valentia, in Sicily between Messina, Palermo, Trapani and
Agrigento, in Campania - at Benevento and Avellino - in Milan
and Brescia in Lombardy, as well as in Alessandria, Gorizia,
Pisa, Bologna and Rome.
'Operation Waterfront' netted functionaries of the motorway
maintenance group ANAS and municipal technicians, who were among
those who steered contracts worth over 100 million euros into
the hands of the Piromallis.
An MP for the opposition League party, Domenico Furgiuele,
was placed under investigation for suspected complicity in bid
rigging in the probe.
'Ndrangheta is Italy's richest and most powerful mafia,
controlling the European cocaine trade.
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