Some 109 people have been placed
under investigation in Puglia after a group of local mafiosi and
their families were found to be receiving the government's
'citizenship wage' basic income benefit, sources said Wednesday.
Some 37 mafia convicts and 72 of their relatives were found to
have got a total of 900,000 euros in basic income over the last
few months in the provinces of Bari and Barletta-Andria-Trani,
police said.
Police carried out 109 seizure orders in Operation Veritas,
judicial sources said.
The Puglia mafia, the Sacra Corona Unita (United Sacred
Crown, SCU) is the smallest of Italy's four mafias.
It has dwindled to a fraction of its former strength thanks
to waves of police action.
But, unlike the other mafias, it has not stopped killing to
claim turf and retain power.
The other three mafias are 'Ndrangheta from Calabria, Cosa
Nostra from Sicily and the Camorra from Naples.
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