Italian police made 19 arrests in
Rome Wednesday as they bust two mafia groups, one linked to the
Naples Camorra and the other to the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta,
operating in the Italian capital.
Around 200 Carabinieri fanned out in the provinces of Rome
and Naples to make the arrests with the help of sniffer dogs and
helicopters.
The arrestees are suspected of conspiracy to traffic cocaine
aggravated by the use of weapons, and drug pushing.
Two of them have also been charged with grievous bodily harm,
committed with firearms and mafia methods, judicial sources
said.
Sixteen of the 19 were placed under arrest in prison and
three were placed under house arrest.
Among those arrested are several people of Albanian origin
and a woman, police said.
Among these was Albanian-origin Arben Zogu, a well-known
Lazio soccer ultra and considered close to Rome gang boss
Massimo Carminati, notorious for the 'Middle World' corruption
and extortion probes.
Some 44 raids are ongoing on gang members resident in the
Roman quarter of San Basilio and also in Naples, Nettuno near
Rome and other towns near the Italian capital, judicial sources
said.
The raids were against pushers, look-outs and various bagmen
for the two groups.
Investigators said they had identified two "separate and
strong" criminal groups, both armed and dedicated to
narco-trafficking and "working in close synergy", judicial
sources said.
One of these is a Camorra group led by the brothers Salvatore
and Genny Esposito, sons of Luigi aka'Nacchella'.
The other is an 'Ndrangheta group led by Vincenzo Polito,
which relied on the support of 'Ndrangheta clans in the province
of Reggio Calabria, the Filippone and Gallico families, which
are present in the Italian capital.
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