19 ‘Ndrangheta Members Arrested in Trento, Italy.
The Calabrian-based ‘Ndrangheta has seemingly expanded from its southern italian roots. Yesterday (October 15th, 2020), Italian police arrested 19 ‘Ndrangheta members on the Austrian-Italian border in the city of Trento, Italy.
The sting was done in conjunction with another operation conducted in Reggio Calabria, where members of the Serraino cosca were also raided. The Reggio Calabria bust also resulted in the arrests of an ex-police officer, Seby Vecchio, and a former city councillor on the counts of helping the mafia in various ways.
The “Ndrangheta mafia is currently the richest and most powerful family in Italy, mostly due to its involvement in the cocaine trade in Europe. These activities are estimated to be the equivalent to at least 3% of Italy’s GDP (gross domestic product).
According to latest reports, “Ndrangheta income in 2008 was approximately $55 billion. The ‘Ndrangheta mafia still maintain tremendous influence in all of Italy, northern Europe, Australia, North and South America, and many other geographical locations all across the globe. Their influence still keeps the most influence in northern Italian regions such as Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Lazio, and Rome.
(Source Text and Image: ansa.it)