48 arrests in Puglia mafia bust

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 27 - Italian police on Tuesday served 48 arrest warrants in an operation against the Puglia mafia, the Sacra Corona Unita (United Holy Crown, SCU).
    Those arrested are accuse of mafia association, money laundering, extortion, illegal competition with threats or violence, kidnapping for ransom, illegal weapons and explosives possession, and fraud to obtain public money including EU funds, police said.
    National anti-mafia chief Federico Cafiero de Raho, Bari chief prosecutor Roberto Rossi, ROS Carabinieri special unit commander Pasquale Angelosanto, the vice president of Eurojust Filippo Spiezia and the deputy director general of EU fraud office OLAF, Ernesto Bianchi, were among those who told a press conference that the operation had dealt a "significant" blow against the SCU.
    The clans operated in other parts of Italy as well as the Balkans, the officials said.
    The SCU is Italy's fourth and smallest mafia.
    The others are Calabria's 'Ndrangheta, Sicily's Cosa Nostra, and Campania's Camorra. (ANSA).