Italy Sends Soldiers to South to Combat Powerful New Mafia

50 BILLION A YEAR !!!!!!! THESE GUYS ARE SO OLD RUNNING THIS SHIT,I LOVE READING STORIES LIKE THIS

The decision to send in the military to square off against the ‘Ndrangheta criminal organization came after what authorities said amounted to a death threat against the chief prosecutor in the city of Reggio Calabria this week: the discovery of a bazooka near the courthouse.

Luigi Varratta, the prefect for the region, told The Associated Press the army will not take over the streets. “They will deal with security for the judiciary,” Varratta said.

Italian prosecutors, who say the ‘Ndrangheta rakes in about $50 billion a year in international drug trafficking and local extortion, arrested 300 alleged members in a massive crackdown code-named “Operazione Crimini” in July. The organization’s alleged godfather, 80-year-old Domenico Oppedisano, was arrested in the bust along with some Canadian citizens.

Eighty pages of a 2,656-page report issued by prosecutors after their investigation involved ‘Ndrangheta cells in Toronto, Montreal and northern Ontario — areas where families from Calabria have immigrated to Canada for years, Canada’s National Post reported.

The big sting, which involved 3,000 police officers, was said to have “hit the heart of the organization,” Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said at the time.
But ‘Ndrangheta network members have continued their retaliation against police and prosecutors.

“The ‘Ndrangheta is the most powerful, dangerous and richest organization at this moment,” chief prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone told state-run TV RAI on Wednesday. “There’s a situation of extreme tension, a sign that our work is bothering someone.”

With its more humble, rural origins, the ‘Ndrangheta isn’t well-known outside Italy, although it has had a powerful presence in Canada since the 1950s.