A major European police operation targeting the Calabria mafia on Wednesday resulted in the arrest of 132 people and the implementation of raids and seizures in 10 countries, including Italy, Germany and France.
European law enforcement agency Europol said the operation was "the strongest blow yet suffered by the Italian criminal organisation".
Other countries involved in the operation, known as "Eureka", include Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Romania and Belgium, and in Latin America Brazil and Panama, according to Europol, which coordinated the operations of the police forces concerned.
Some 12 people were arrested in Belgium, 20 in Germany and 100 in Italy on charges of mafia affiliation, drug and arms smuggling, tax evasion and money laundering.
According to Italian prosecutors, companies and real estate worth 25 million euros were confiscated.
As part of these investigations, which have been carried out at the European level for more than 3 years, the Italian and Belgian authorities were able to attribute to the Calabria mafia the import and smuggling of about 25 tons of cocaine between October 2019 and January 2022.
The mafia dominates Europe's cocaine market, where it also carries out money laundering, corruption and violence.
The investigation revealed a large flow of drugs between South America and Europe, an operation run in particular by the San Luca Group in Calabria.
The families running this criminal network have been involved for decades in violence to compete for this lucrative market, culminating in the Duisburg massacre in Germany in 2007.