91 ARRESTED IN MOB SWEEP IN ITALY

Palermo, Sicily, early this morning, Italian authorities arrested some 91 members of Cosa Nostra.   In an indictment which has been unsealed, 91 members of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra were arrested for money laundering and extortion.   The probe, which is wide in scale was specifically designed to remove the mob  from making money during the global pandemic.  Hundreds of officers spanned out all around Palermo, and several other areas in northern Italy.

It's the contention of the Italian police that the mob were laundering extortion and narcotics trafficking money in an effort to buy up a ton of businesses struggling to make ends meet during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the police, mobsters were attempting to buy hotels, pharmacies, bars, car dealerships and a dozen or so other businesses. It's nothing knew to the Italian authorities because the mob has been doing this since the early 1990's, looking for ways to wash illicit cash for legitimate enterprises, but with the pandemic, the government has just seen enough and dropped the hammer today.

One of the bigger fears is that N'drangheta, which is a Calabrian based crime organization has been recruiting soldiers who own businesses who are losing everything due to the ramifications of Covid-19.  While the mob has taken care of it's citizens perhaps better then the government during this crisis, the government isn't going to tolerate a move by Cosa Nostra or N'drangheta to take over the entire country. In also a brazen move by the Italian government, prior to the arrest warrants began locking up assets controlled by the mafia.  It's been one of the ways the Italian government has been able to shut down the mafia in Italy.  If they cut off the financial supply chain of crime families and organizations, they paint them into a corner.  The government seized $16.5 million dollars in assets late Monday night. It included homes, 13 racing horses, illegal betting parlors, bars, and restaurants. 

While it remains to be seen how this all plays out, the one success the Italian authorities have had in dismantling the mob, is by following the money.   They also are willing to remove the children from homes of alleged gangsters to hammer the point with them.  Keep in mind, the mafia in Italy has not been afraid to kill the police, politicians to make a point either.  While you are never going to eradicate the mob in Italy, this seems to be the one system the Italian government uses, and uses well to thwart the mob.