State, Carabinieri and finance police and members of the DIA anti-mafia department staged a big nationwide operation targetting the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate on Thursday.
The Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta is now widely considered to be Italy's most powerful mafia. The operation, nicknamed 'low profile' and coordinated by Catanzaro prosecutors, saw 13 people arrested and taken to jail while another 35 were put under house arrest, sources said.
It involved around 200 police officers with the support of four dog units and a helicopter.
Many of the suspects are seemingly respectable white-collar workers based in the province of Catanzaro, the sources said.
These included civil servants who were allegedly in cahoots with the mob and some important business people. .
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