Italy’s military police launched the operation in the early hours of Tuesday
Italian police have launched a series of raids targeting mafia clans operating in and around the Sicilian capital Palermo.
More than 1,200 officers were involved in the operation, which the military Carabinieri force said was aimed at “dismantling” the area’s mafia.
The raids, the biggest for several years, were seen as a bid by Italian authorities to stop the Mafia rebuilding its governing body known as a Cupola.
A number of mafia bosses have been released from jail in recent months on appeal. But investigators say those still behind bars have used encrypted mobile phones to continue their activities.
They also found that Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia have updated the practices of their “founding fathers” and no longer need to meet in person.
One local leader had managed to stay in hiding and still hold sway over organised crime in his local district, police explained.
For more than 100 years Sicily’s notorious mafia held a grip on local towns and cities, extorting businesses through protection money and making big profits from drug trafficking.
—BBC
