Latest news with #Ndrangheta
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Italian mafia use Chinese ‘underground banks' to launder money
Italy's mafia gangs are using Chinese 'underground banks' to launder money from drug trafficking and other crimes, a new report has revealed. Mafia groups are increasingly turning to a system known as Fei Ch'ien – 'flying money' – as a clandestine way of moving vast amounts of cash around the world. An underground banking network that originated in China, it operates through brokers in money exchanges, using encrypted communication systems and minimal record-keeping to make it hard for authorities to track. 'In relation to money laundering, there are links between Italian criminal organisations and Chinese groups who are active in underground banking,' the DIA, Italy's national anti-mafia agency, said in the report, entitled Follow the Money. The clandestine system is now being used extensively by 'big criminal organisations that want to secretly transfer money abroad to finance their criminal activities or to reinvest it', the report said. The DIA said mafia groups such as the Camorra of Naples, Cosa Nostra in Sicily and the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria were becoming increasingly adept at using digital technology to evade detection by the authorities. They employ encrypted communication channels such as EncroChat and Sky ECC, as well as messaging services such as Signal and Telegram. 'There has been a pronounced rise in the adoption of illicit financial instruments which are technologically sophisticated, including artificial intelligence models designed to elude checks,' the report said. Even when mafiosi are arrested, convicted and imprisoned, they are still able to maintain contacts with their criminal empires on the outside. The smuggling of mobile phones into prisons is commonplace and some are delivered by drone, according to the report. Rise of the 'baby gangs' Meanwhile, Mafia organisations are increasingly recruiting young men from marginalised backgrounds in cities such as Naples and Rome to act as runners, lookouts and drug dealers. Such groups are known in Italy as 'baby gangs'. These are made up of bands of young delinquents and aspiring mafiosi who, armed with knives and firearms, fight each other for territorial control. Young people from areas with high unemployment are drawn to a life of crime partly by the easy money to be made but also by images that they see on social media, the DIA said. Teenage boys are attracted by 'misleading models of power and wealth' as well as 'ostentation and the promise of affirming their identities,' the report added, saying: 'The glorifying of luxury and violence, through images on social media, contributes to the creation of an image that is warped but very attractive to young people.' The DIA described the rise of 'baby gangs', fuelled by high levels of school absenteeism, unemployment and poverty, as 'particularly worrying'. The report also highlights how Mafia groups are trying to muscle in on the billions of euros swirling around Italy as the country embarks on a number of huge investment projects. They include plans to build a vast suspension bridge from Sicily – the home of Cosa Nostra – to Calabria, the territory of the 'Ndrangheta. Mafia dons have their eyes on the €200 billion of post-pandemic recovery funds that the EU granted to Italy, as well as the billions being spent in Rome to spruce up the city for this year's Jubilee, a special calendar of holy events organised by the Vatican. The crime bosses are also targeting huge amounts of money being spent on preparations for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will be hosted by Milan and the ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the Dolomites. Italy's different mafia groups are putting aside the bloody feuds of the past and forging collaborative links, the DIA said, with the Cosa Nostra and the Camorra forming alliances at home and abroad. 'Coexistence has fostered synergies that have progressively become structured,' said Michele Carbone, the director of the agency. 'These structures have become 'capable of absorbing overlaps, tensions and frictions'.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Newshour Trump ambushes South African president with 'white persecution' claims
In an extraordinary Oval Office meeting, President Trump ambushes the South African president with claims of white farmers being persecuted. We hear a response from Mzwanele Nyhontso, the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development for South Africa. Also on the programme: how the Italian authorities dealt a blow to a powerful international arm of the mafia – the 'Ndrangheta; and a conservation success story from India, saving the Asiatic Lion. (Photo: US President Donald Trump shows a copy of an article that he said it's about white South Africans who had been killed in the Oval Office. Credit: Reuters)
Qatar Tribune
21-05-2025
- Qatar Tribune
Italian police target Mafia and drugs trade in two large-scale raids
Rome: Italian police have carried out two large-scale raids against organized crime, investigators said on Wednesday. As part of an operation called Millennium, the Carabinieri targeted a total of 97 suspects who are members of important 'Ndrangheta clans. The suspects are accused of controlling illegal drug imports from South America via the Italian port of Gioia Tauro, with the help of harbour employees. In addition to drug trafficking, the accusations against them include extortion, kidnapping, election manipulation and arms trafficking. Two companies - a catering business and a construction company - were seized as a precautionary measure, as they were allegedly used for illegal Mafia business. The raids took place in Milan, Rome and Bologna, among other places. (DPA)
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Italian police target Mafia and drugs trade in major raids
Italian police have carried out two large-scale raids against organized crime, investigators said on Wednesday. As part of an operation called Millennium, the Carabinieri targeted a total of 97 suspects who are members of important 'Ndrangheta clans. The suspects are accused of controlling illegal drug imports from South America via the Italian port of Gioia Tauro, with the help of harbour employees. In addition to drug trafficking, the accusations against them include extortion, kidnapping, election manipulation and arms trafficking. Two companies - a catering business and a construction company - were seized as a precautionary measure, as they were allegedly used for illegal Mafia business. The raids took place in Milan, Rome and Bologna, among other places. Albania link At the same time, Italian and Albanian investigators carried out a separate operation targeting large-scale trafficking of cocaine and heroin as well as money laundering and abuse of office. According to the authorities, the investigation revealed evidence of drug shipments and cash flows totalling over €4.5 million (%5.1 million), which were smuggled from Italy to Albania by long-distance coach. The centre of the group's activities is said to have been the city of Durrës on the Albanian coast. A total of 52 suspects were targeted in the raids, including two police officers and a lawyer, said Albanian public prosecutor Vladimir Mara. One of the police officers is suspected of being part of the smuggling network, while the other is accused of corruption. The lawyer is suspected of having exerted illegal influence on various public officials, Mara said. Assets worth several million euros were seized in Albania and Italy, including real estate, a television station and four luxury restaurants. The operation was led by Italy's anti-Mafia and anti-terrorism police in cooperation with the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust). Interpol also took part in the cross-border crackdown.
United News of India
21-05-2025
- United News of India
Italian police issue 97 warrants in raids on Ndrangheta mafia
Rome, May 21 (UNI) Italian military police, the Carabinieri, said on Wednesday they had issued warrants to 97 people as part of a nationwide operation targeting the notorious Ndrangheta mafia group. "Some of the most important 'Ndrangheta clans are affected, whose members are accused of mafia-type crimes, aiding and abetting the mafia, drug trafficking, including international drug trafficking, drug possession and trafficking, extortion, kidnapping for extortion, mafia-type political election collusion, and possession and carrying of weapons," the statement read. The operation focused on the southern region of Reggio Calabria. Its goal was to dismantle an alliance of drug-trafficking gangs forged by provincial clans to establish monopoly over drug trade. The investigation involved helicopters and sniffer dogs. Two companies involved in the catering and construction businesses were impounded on suspicion of serving as a front for illegal activities. Ndrangheta, which originates from the southern Calabria region, is considered one of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. It has effectively monopolized the European cocaine market and deeply infiltrated the political and public life of the country. UNI SPUTNIK GNK
