The Foggia mafia is "emulating" the Calabrian-based 'Ndrangheta mafia in its "expansionistic" goals, and is cultivating a similar 'middle ground' between mafiosi, businessmen, professionals and civil servants as Italy's richest and most powerful mafia, the National Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA) said in its six-monthly report to parliament Friday.
A bomb was set off early on Thursday at a day centre for the
elderly in the southern city of Foggia owned by a group that
employs a witness in a investigation into the local mafia,
sources said.
It was the latest in a long series of mafia attacks including
turf-war murders by the Foggia mafia, part of the Sacra Corona
Unita (SCU, Holy United Crown) mafia in the region of Puglia.
Cristian Vigilante, the human resources manager of the
Sanita' Piu' nursing-home group that owns the day centre, was
also the target of a powerful bomb attack that devastated his
car and damaged other vehicles on January 3.
Thursday's bomb at the 'Il Sorriso di Stefano' centre damaged
the exterior of the complex and some parked cars.
It went off while a cleaner was inside working.
The woman was said to be physically unhurt but was taken to
an emergency room as she was suffering shock.
"This is clearly the follow-up from the last time," said
Vigilante as he arrived at the scene.
Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese is set to send an
extraordinary contingent of police to the province of Foggia,
and she confirmed the "state's will to fight all forms of
criminality with the utmost determination".
The SCU is Italy's fourth and smallest mafia.
The other three are 'Ndrangheta from Calabria, Cosa Nostra
from Sicily, and the Camorra in Campania.
'Ndrangheta has outstripped its Sicilian cousins in becoming
Italy's richest and most powerful mafia, thanks to a chokehold
on the South American-European cocaine trade.
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