61 arrested in major anti-mafia operation against Camorra in Rome

Italian military police arrested at least 61 people in a major anti-mafia operation in Rome on Tuesday.

The operation targeted alleged members of the Camorra, the Naples-based mafia, who were suspected of being operating in the southeastern districts of the Italian capital.

Several raids were carried out in Rome and in several other central and southern Italian cities.

Assets worth some 10 million euros (11.3 million U.S. dollars) including businesses and real estates in Rome were also seized in the operation.

Those arrested were charged with mafia association, drug trafficking, extortion, usury, illegal possession of firearms, money laundering, and other various crimes.

According to prosecutors of the Anti-mafia District Directorate (DDA) in Rome, the people arrested belonged to a Camorra clan operating in Rome and led for long time by boss Domenico Pagnozzi.

Pagnozzi is currently serving a life sentence in jail under a special security regime provided for mobsters and terrorists, after receiving a murder conviction in October 2014.

Another major suspect in the operation was Massimiliano Colagrande, who was arrested early on Tuesday in Rome and charged with mafia criminal association.

The man had as well a leading role in the criminal activities of the group, especially in the drug trafficking, according to investigators.

Colagrande is known as a former far-right militant. He was suspected of being involved, but never charged, also in a major inquiry over an alleged mafia-like organization in the capital city that led to 37 arrests in early December and to several more later.

That probe resulted in a major scandal in Italy, since for the first time prosecutors alleged the presence of an original mafia organization in Rome connecting criminals, former right-wing extremists, businessmen and local politicians, and with no direct links to the three major crime syndicates in the country. Endit