26th September, 2017
A group of ‘Ndrangheta Mafia mobsters, who dabbled in racketeering and cocaine smuggling in the wealthy Northern Italian province of Como, has been busted, police said.
Carabinieri police said on Tuesday that they arrested 21 people and placed three under house arrest, including the mayor of Seregno, a small town 25 kilometres north of Milan.
The suspects are accused of several crimes, including membership of a Mafia organisation, drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons, corruption and assault.
Seregno Mayor Edoardo Mazza, from the Forza Italia party of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, is suspected of giving favours to a Mafia-linked businessman in return for votes.
The ‘Ndrangheta has spread its tentacles to northern Italy and far beyond in the southern region of Calabria,.
It is the leading smuggler of cocaine into Europe.
“The `Ndrangheta is the most dangerous Mafia organisation because it infiltrates the economy and has ties with political institutions,’’ Lombardy regional president Roberto Maroni told Radio 24 broadcaster.
Lombardy is one of Italy’s richest areas and incorporates Milan and Como.
In 2010, when he was interior minister, Maroni denied that mafia infiltration was a serious problem in northern Italy.