Italy: 49 members of the powerful mafia arrested …

The Italian authorities on Monday arrested 49 people, including a mayor and a councilor, in various municipalities in the country, notably in Calabria, as part of a Operation against the powerful and formidable Calabrian mafia ‘Ndrangheta.

They are accused of alleged crimes of mafia association, drug trafficking, usury, illegal possession of weapons and attempted murder, among others.

The police made the arrests in the municipalities of Rosarno, Polistena, Anoia (Calabria) and in the provinces of Vibo Valentia (Calabria), Messina (Sicily), Salerno (Campania), Matera (Basilicata), Brindisi and Taranto (Apulia) , as well as in the northern cities of Alexandria (Piedmont) and Pavia (Lombardy).

Among those arrested in connection with this operation, known as “Fausto”, is Giuseppe Idà, mayor of Rosarno since 2016, Accused of having connections with the Mafia and profiting from it in exchange for political favors.

The police also arrested the councilor of the same municipality, Domenico Scriva, for alleged relations with the Mafia and exchanging political favors.

This blow to the Calabrian mafia revealed the plans and organization of the “Pisano clan”, also known as the “Demons of Rosarno”, who allegedly offered “electoral support” to Idà and Scriva in the 2016 municipal elections, in exchange for people they trust in the criminal gang who are part of municipal politics.

This blow to the ‘Ndrangheta coincides with the start last week of the “macro-trial” against the Calabrian mafia, in which the Italian courts put 355 defendants on the bench, in addition to attending his defenses and more than 900 witnesses linked to the “multinational criminal”.

This trial began in a “bunker” built in an industrial area for security reasons, from which the defendants face charges such as membership in a mafia association, homicide, illegal possession of weapons, extortion, drug trafficking, corruption and abuse of power.