Italian police in mass Mafia crackdown
Italian police arrested scores of suspected Mafia members today.
Among them were those in charge of collecting extortion money from Sicilian businesses.
The 36 people arrested in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, were accused of Mafia association, illegal possession of weapons and extortion, among other charges, police said.
The suspects were also believed to have helped hide Salvatore Lo Piccolo, a top member hoping to become the next “boss of bosses” who was arrested in November after years on the run.
Dozens of notes that Lo Piccolo used to give orders to his aides and run business were found in his hide-out. The information provided by the decrypted notes, as well as by Mafia informants, led to the arrests.
Among those held was Calogero Lo Piccolo, the boss’s son, who was believed to have risen up the ranks of the Mafia since his father’s arrest.
The extortion fee, or “pizzo,” is one of the Mafia’s most lucrative sources of income. But recently businesses in Sicily have been rebelling against it.
The country’s industrialists' lobby has threatened to expel members who pay the protection money.
