All Blog Posts Tagged 'Antimafia' (17)

By Thom L. Jones

The media called them raggazzi di una stagione ‘straordinaria: “The boys of an extraordinary season.”

Beppe Montana and Calogero Zucchetto and Pippo Giordano and Roberto Antiochia and Natale Mondo and Ninni Cassarà and the rest of the Squadra Mobile, the Flying Squad. They knew what they had to do and lived their lives doing…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

The Italian Senate approved an extension of the country’s Antimafia bill on Thursday, news agency ANSA reports. The bill is used to confiscate the assets of convicted Mafiosi, people convicted of bribery and corruption, and also of stalking and…

By David Amoruso

Matteo Messina Denaro, Sicilian Cosa Nostra’s boss of bosses, has been on the run for 23 years, but despite recent arrests of those closest to him authorities are far removed from catching the fugitive crime lord.

When police in Castelvetrano,…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

The mayor of Bova Marina, a village in Reggio Calabria, was arrested today in a police operation against the Calabrian Mafia’s involvement in the area’s garbage hauling industry, Italian news agency ANSA reported. Mayor…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

It was magical! When a soon-to-be bride and groom flew in by helicopter to their wedding in the Calabrian village of Nicotera, they could see their friends and family below. Everyone had gathered in the town square, which had been cordoned off for three hours prior to their arrival. The pair’s helicopter…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

It takes a lot of courage to fight the Mafia. Especially in Italy, where the four main crime groups - Sicily's Cosa Nostra,…

By Thom L. Jones

These are murderers who killed a man, killed a thought, a hope, a way of being, the very idea of humanity.

- Lorenzo Matassa. Public Prosecutor. Court of Palermo, February 23rd, 1998.

In the early 1990s, a courageous Catholic priest, Giuseppe 'Pino' Puglisi, took over…

By Carl Russo - Opinion

Here's the latest proof that old traditions, no matter how disgusting, die hard in Italy. On May 29, a religious procession wending its way through the city of Corleone, Sicily, allegedly stopped to pay respect to the first lady of…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Police in Ragusa, Sicily, have arrested three people they believe are leading members of the Carbonaro-Dominante clan of La Stidda, the island’s second crime group behind Cosa Nostra. They have also seized an arsenal of firearms, including sniper rifles.

The arrests and seizures are part of Operation Reset, aimed at…

By David Amoruso

The ‘Ndrangheta may be Italy’s most powerful organized crime group, but its defeat is possible and is deemed a “national objective […] and a duty that must be placed at the top of any government agenda,” Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella said yesterday.

Calling the …

Photo: The aftermath of the bomb attack on the A29 motorway near Capaci, Sicily, that killed anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three bodyguards.

By David Amoruso

As ISIS’ reign of terror is sending shockwaves through Europe, many of us are left guessing and…

By David Amoruso

If members of terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) are looking for a new target then Sicily might not be the smartest choice. Claudio Fava, the deputy chairman of the National Anti-Mafia Commission, told …

By David Amoruso

Palermo businessmen have had enough. For years they’ve been extorted by local Mafia clans who came to collect the “pizzo,” but today, ANSA reports, 36 of them made a firm statement by helping police bust 22 Mafiosi who were terrorizing their shops and lives.

Thanks to the businessmen police were able to identify and…

By Angelo Carmelo Gallitto



Italian organized crime, divided in Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, Camorra and Sacra Corona Unita, is a rich and powerful criminal enterprise with a lot of connections and branches around the world.…

By David Amoruso

The Yakuza is not doing so great. According to Japan’s National Police Agency, the total membership in Yakuza organized crime groups dropped below 60,000 for the first time since police started keeping records. Last year, all the Yakuza groups combined had 58,600 members, down from about 63,200 in 2012.

Membership has been going down for…

By David Amoruso

The Sicilian Mafia emerged from the shadows as a criminal powerhouse that would rule the underworld not just in Sicily but in Italy and North America as well. Secrecy allowed them to grow. Now, author Carl Russo is pointing a photo camera at the places that played a role in Cosa Nostra’s shady history. His new book …

Mussomeli, Sicily, once home of the legendary godfather Giuseppe Genco Russo

By Carl Russo

After the spectacular capture of Corleone capomafia Bernardo Provenzano by police in 2006, Sicily braced for a blowback. If history is an indicator, observers warned, a Mafia war will break out. And it will take the form of either an…