Police on Tuesday executed arrest warrants for at least 40 people suspected of being members of, or having links with, the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia. The suspects were detained in Calabria itself, the Lazio region around Rome, and in various northern regions including Liguria and Piedmont. Investigators suspect that a number of politicians and officials from the Italian tax agency were in contact with some of the arrested people, who are thought to be linked to the Raso-Gullace-Albanese and Parrello-Gagliostro clans and whose alleged illegal activities were concentrated in northern Italy.
Investigators also seized assets including properties, companies and bank accounts worth around 40 million euros as part of Tuesday's operation.
The clans are suspected to have muscled in on contracts for the Terzo Valico, a 6.2-billion-euro project for a new high-speed rail line between Genoa and Milan. A preliminary investigation judge rejected a request from Reggio Calabria prosecutors for an arrest warrant for Giuseppe Galati, an MP for the small centre-right ALA party, in relation to the 'Ndrangheta probe, sources said. The judge said the evidence against Galati did not justify his arrest, the sources said.
Antonio Caridi, a Senator for Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia, is also involved in the case, source said.
Italian Carabinieri police on Tuesday arrested 58 people suspected of having links to the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia and for involvement in crimes such as drug trafficking, extortion and robbery in a separate operation.
The investigations focus on one of the most violent and dangerous 'Ndrangheta clans, led by Francesco Muto from the coastal town of Cetraro. According to investigators, Muto has monopolised the economic resources of the area for more than 30 years, including the fishing industry, leading to him being nicknamed the "Fish King".
The probe has also uncovered a drug trafficking operation linked to the Muto clan, which allegedly supplied cocaine and marijuana to all the main resorts on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria.
During the operation in the provinces of Cosenza and Salerno and other Italian towns on Tuesday police also seized goods worth about seven million euros.
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