Italy busts 300 in 'Ndrangheta mob crackdown

Italian police on Tuesday carried out one of the biggest operations ever against the powerful 'Ndrangheta crime organization, arresting 300 people including top bosses, and seizing million of dollars in property.

The man believed to be the 'Ndrangheta 's chief, Domenico Oppedisano, was picked up earlier in the day in Rosarno, a small coastal town in Calabria, the southern region where the organization is based, police said.

Also arrested was the man in charge of the gang's businesses in Milan, where the 'Ndrangheta (pronounced 'en-DRAN-geh-tah') has been making major inroads.

The pre-dawn raids Tuesday involved some 3,000 police across the country. Charges include murder, extortion, arms and drug trafficking, and criminal association.

More powerful than Mafia

Investigators described the operation as one of the biggest blows ever to an organization that today is considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the sweep struck at the heart of the 'Ndrangheta in terms of both its organization and of its finances. Applause reportedly broke out in the Senate upon release of the news.

The sweep dismantled some of the most powerful families in the organization, Italian news agencies said. It also enabled investigators to shed light on the 'Ndrangheta structure and power hierarchy, exposing a more centralized and pyramid-like organization than previously thought.

Oppedisano received his nomination as top boss during the wedding of the children of two local bosses in 2009, according to the ANSA news agency. The alleged Milan boss, Pino Neri, was promoted during a dinner with local leaders that included a toast in his honour, it reported.

The biggest operation was in the Milan region of Lombardy, where 160 people were reportedly arrested. They included businessmen and the director of state medical services in the city of Pavia.

International influence

The last big operation against the Calabrian mob dates to the 1990s. Since then the 'Ndrangheta has expanded its power mainly through its grip on drug trafficking not only in Italy but in such countries as Germany and as far away as Australia.

A clan war spread to Germany in 2007, when six Italians were gunned down by a rival gang in retribution for an earlier killing as they left a birthday celebration in the western city of Duisburg. Italian officials have said all three people responsible for the shooting have been arrested.

Anti-mafia prosecutors say Milan has become the economic centre for the organization, which migrated to the north in the 1970s and 1980s. Nearly all of the clans are present in Lombardy.