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Mafia bosses arrested in swoop
20/06/2006 13:02 - (SA)
Rome - Fifty-two people, including the alleged heads of 13 Mafia families, were arrested in Sicily at dawn on Tuesday in a major crackdown on organised crime, anti-Mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso said.
Grasso told Italian news agency Ansa that the investigation had uncovered evidence "linking Mafia cells with businessmen and politicians," including a list of candidates in recent elections whom the crime group deemed "reliable".
"The leaders of 13 Mafia families were arrested," Grasso said, adding that the operation - code-named "Gotha" - was the result of a long investigation in which police "pieced together the current organisational chart of Palermo's Mafia association".
The 52 arrest warrants were issued by anti-Mafia investigative judges for extortion and participating in Mafia-linked associations.
Recorded conversations
Investigators relied on numerous secretly recorded conversations between alleged Mafia bosses that took place inside a garage in Palermo used as a meeting place.
Also used as evidence were documents, later decoded, found among the personal belongings of the Mafia's "boss of bosses" Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested on April 11 after evading capture for more than 40 years.
"Thanks to modern technology, it was possible to record an impressive number of conversations" that shed light on the structure and organisation of the Palermo Mafia's leadership, Grasso said.
"The arrested Mafia bosses all have been convicted in the past for Mafia activities and all served their sentences. Once they got out of prison, they all plunged back in," he said.
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