"Blue blood" anti-mafia operation, a blow to the top of the

Santapaola-Ercolano mafia family: at dawn the carabinieri arrested 30 subjects accused of mafia association and external competition, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons and ammunition and " competition in fraudulent transfer of values ​​".

The investigations, coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Catania, "brought to light the recent evolutions of the associative dynamics of the Cosa


Nostra Etna“ Santapaola-Ercolano ”family, identifying the top elements".

250 soldiers

- from the Provincial Command of Catania - employed in the vast operation in the provinces of

Catania, Prato, L'Aquila, Enna, Perugia, Vibo Valentia, Palermo, Benevento, Syracuse and Avellino.


The current “provincial manager of the“ Santapaola – Ercolano ”mafia family is also in handcuffs.

The investigation revealed a "vast round of

extortion

against Catania entrepreneurs, a flourishing

drug trafficking , debt collection through

usury

loans

and the fictitious registration of economic activities".

The proceeds - so in the note from the Carabinieri - "were used both for the maintenance of the families of the detained affiliates, and reinvested in other entrepreneurial activities, infiltrating the economic fabric of Catania".

Assets seized for a total value of over

4 million euros.