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Italian police arrest 300 in anti-mafia sweep

Italian police arrested more than 300 people, seized weapons and confiscated millions of pounds' worth of assets in the biggest operation in 15 years against the country's most powerful mafia.

A man identified by the Italian police as Domenico Oppedisano waits in the back of a police car
A man identified by the Italian police as Domenico Oppedisano waits in the back of a police car Credit: Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

More than 3,000 armed officers raided homes and offices controlled by the feared 'Ndrangheta mafia in its home region of Calabria and around Milan.

Suspects will face charges of murder, drug and arms trafficking, extortion, criminal association and loan sharking, police said.

The 'Ndrangheta, which takes its name from a Greek word meaning "virtue" or "heroism", is regarded as the most dangerous and impenetrable of Italy's mafias, overshadowing the better known Camorra, based around Naples, and Cosa Nostra of Sicily.

Among those arrested was the 'Ndrangheta's "boss of bosses", 80-year-old Domenico Oppedisano, who was detained during a raid in the small coastal town of Rosarno in Calabria.

He had been serving as the head of the organisation since last year, when he was formally anointed leader at a mafia wedding.

Police also arrested Pino Neri, allegedly the criminal organisation's top boss in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, where the mafia invests dirty money in legitimate enterprises.

Italy's Eurispes institute has estimated that the 'Ndrangheta's turnover from trafficking in cocaine and arms, prostitution and extortion amounts to around 44 billion euros (£36 billion) a year -- the equivalent of 2.9 per cent of Italy's gross domestic product.

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, has claimed that in the last two years his government has done more than any other to take on the mafia, with police making hundreds of arrests.

But organised crime groups have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from similar raids in the past, regrouping and consolidating their grip on power.

The 'Ndrangheta's base is in Calabria but its tentacles extend to the US, Australia, Spain and northern Europe, prosecutors said.

"The huge raid against the 'Ndrangheta confirms what we have been fearing for years – that its reach goes to the very heart of this country. It's really a national emergency," said Franco Laratta, an MP from the main opposition party.