Italian police on Tuesday served 48
arrest warrants in an operation against the Puglia mafia, the
Sacra Corona Unita (United Holy Crown, SCU).
Those arrested are accuse of mafia association, money
laundering, extortion, illegal competition with threats or
violence, kidnapping for ransom, illegal weapons and explosives
possession, and fraud to obtain public money including EU funds,
police said.
National anti-mafia chief Federico Cafiero de Raho, Bari chief
prosecutor Roberto Rossi, ROS Carabinieri special unit commander
Pasquale Angelosanto, the vice president of Eurojust Filippo
Spiezia and the deputy director general of EU fraud office OLAF,
Ernesto Bianchi, were among those who told a press conference
that the operation had dealt a "significant" blow against the
SCU.
The clans operated in other parts of Italy as well as the
Balkans, the officials said.
The SCU is Italy's fourth and smallest mafia.
The others are Calabria's 'Ndrangheta, Sicily's Cosa Nostra, and
Campania's Camorra.
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