A city councillor was arrested
Monday in a probe into the infiltration of the Calabria-based
'Ndrangheta mafia into the waste management sector of the
northern region of Lombardy.
Paolo Efrem, a councillor at Busto Arsizio near Varese north of
Milan, was among five people arrested.
He was charged with issuing false invoices and helping
'Ndrangheta clans.
Police said Efrem issue bogus invoices totalling over 100,000
euros to create slush funds for the benefit of the relatives of
a jailed 'Ndrangheta boss, Silvio Farao.
In return, the local 'Ndrangheta branch helped organise his
election campaigns, police said.
'Ndrangheta is Italy's richest and most powerful mafia.
It has outstripped Sicily's Cosa Nostra thanks to its control of
the European cocaine trade.
Its tentacles have spread from its southern Italian base to
central and northern Italy, northern Europe, North America and
Australia, among other areas.
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