The Italian police arrested 181 in an “important blow” for the Nostra

On Tuesday, Italian police officers arrested 181 people who are believed to be linked to Cosa Nostra, where the Sicilian mafia is known, as they deal with what officials said it was an “important blow” of a criminal organization that the region held its grip for generations.

“The Kusa Nostra is far from death,” said Dominico La Badola, First Lieutenant with Karabinieri Police, who supervised an interview on the phone. He said that the investigation showed that the group had reorganized “and” found new energy and new strength “, by recruiting new recruits and setting differences as part of focusing on benefiting from new criminal projects, such as gambling online.

Carappineri said in a statement: For example, for example, for example, for example, for example, for example, for example, for example, for example, for example, for example, on For example, for example, for example, for example, for example, for example, “The organization was able to survive because the organization was able to stay because it remained” strongly linked to the rules of its founding fathers and its ancient rituals. ” For traditional meetings and gatherings to a minimum.

On Tuesday, he was arrested in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, and the neighboring towns, and participated in about 1,200 cararabinieri officers. A video released by the police showed hundreds of officers waiting for orders to enter the homes while helicopters patrolled in the sky during raids during the night. The arrests, which came after two years of investigations, covered a set of charges, including mafia affiliation, drug trafficking, extortion, and attempt to kill.

Although the police and public prosecutors managed to restrict the activities of Cosa Nostra for years, Carappineri said in a statement that the group did not lose its grip and was “well based on its territory that it exercises on continuous control, which greatly affects the economic economy through the extortion and the imposition of products .

For decades, Cosa Nostra dominated the so-called Corleonesi CRIME-associated with Corleone, a famous name for the first time from Mario Puzo, “The Godfather”-which included Matteo Messina, a higher coach is his boss. He died in 2023. But investigators said that Palermo has regained priority within the organization, and that “clans have become essential for the Cosa Nostra dynamics,” said Lieutenant Colonel La Badola.

The investigation also found that the different clans in Palermo have chosen, at the present time, to allocate differences to achieve a common goal: earn money. Cosa Nostra also found a synergy with ‘NdranghetaThe dominant organized crime group in Calabria, southern Italy, when it comes to drug trafficking.

Mr. La Badola said that the drug trade also allowed the Cosa Nostra clans to have direct contacts within Sicily, “a form of control, and so on, a reference to power and power.” He added that the gambling online, which replaced the clouds and the mob -controlled ravages, was another profitable institution that showed the transition from traditional to modern.

The investigations that led to the arrest of Tuesday included many young people, a sign that “Cosa Nostra continues to attract them in certain environments such as the suburbs where young people have limited life alternatives and sympathize with the representations of the authority that the mafia still enjoy,” said Maurizio de Lucia , For reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. “We must be particularly careful,” he said about the new recruits, because “this is the future of the mafia.”

Officials said that the investigation also showed that the Kousa Nostra was still using old tricks-such as informants within the Public Prosecutor’s Office and Lawyers-to remain advanced to the investigators.