You mean to tell us that the Cosa Nostra has lost power even in Palermo? I know they have lost a little bit of power over the politics and so on over there, but not over the illicit trade. Maybe thats the case i dont know but that would just be sad i think haha.

Is there an English translation anywhere?

@ Hollander

Are they, rather is the article stating that non- mafia affiliated narco traffickers
are now part of the criminal landscape in Palermo? Are they still Italians, or another ethnic group entirely?

I'm asking cause this could tie into what BlackFamily was posting about, about the Mexicans franchising out to other criminal groups to gain market share in Europe.

Are these narcos connected to the Mexicans?

The article is talking about Catania in eastern Sicily. The second city of the island. They only mentioned some of the new players called narcos don't have a mafia background.

the article talk about catania not palermo
they say that there are several youngs, mostly involved in drug trafficking, who gain power in the neighborhoods
they are all local, in palermo and catania even the street drug dealers are usually italian; mexicans have nothing to do with them... i read that some of the new drug boss have direct links with the colombians, especially the ones from palermo
anyway they are under mafia control, because they come from poor neighborhoods dominated by the crime families

The Mexicans are becoming big players on Europe's drugs market according to Europol.

Can you link an article on that?

I would like to see Mexican/Colombian cartel in a beef with Italians,Albanians,Russians and just see if they would dominate it. Their violence is on another level but im curious if the European groups i mentioned would also level up to the Cartels violence.


I know there has been brutal violence in these countries to like beheadings and killing a rivals family etc. In Albania i know for a fact they cut a Police Chiefs brothers head and sent it to his office in the Police Station, and one time in 1999 right after the Civil war a gang showed up infront of their rivals house with a Tank and opend fire. But its not a every day thing like in Mexico.


Btw that Police Chief would get his revenge x100 and become one of the most powerful Mafia boss in Albanias history. His name was Aldo Bare

it's just speculation so far, almost all the big cocaine operations are linked to colombians
they are involved but barely compared to colombians, not even close

the only closer to mexican cartel violence in europe was the sicilian mafia in the 1980s

Don't forget Venezuelans, Brazilians, Surinamese etc...

Stefano Ganci died in the prison wing of a Parma hospital in late December, Italian police said on Wednesday. Ganci, 55, reportedly died of a heart attack. The trusted killer of Totò Riina, was serving life in the Emilian city. Among his victims were top Sicilian judge Rocco Chinnici, and deputy Palermo police chief Ninni Cassarà. He was also part of the Cosa Nostra hit squad that blew up magistrate Paolo Borsellino.

Italian authorities in the Sicilian city of Catania have seized a supermarket chain worth 41 million euros from 48-year-old Michele Guglielmino, who built a retail empire by laundering money for the mob. Guglielmino has a criminal record and is a known drug trafficker.

Mafioso Emanuele Di Cavolo (33) has been shot dead in Ramacca (Catania).

Mafia bosses, one politician among 56 netted in Sicily's major anti-mafia operation

ROME, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Italian police arrested at least 56 people in a huge operation targeting the Sicilian crime syndicate on Monday.

The operation hit leading figures and members of powerful clans in the Agrigento province in southwest Sicily, and raids were carried out in five other provinces as well.

Overall, some 16 mafia "families" were targeted, Italy's military police Carabinieri said in a statement.

Those arrested were variously charged with mafia association, drug trafficking, extortion, fraud, and vote buying.

Among the people brought to jail was 37-year-old Francesco Fragapane, the son of a notorious boss serving a life sentence under a special prison regime required for mafia prisoners.

Since 2012 -- after 6 years in jail for mafia-related crimes -- the man would have "rebuilt and led the alliance of mafia families" ruling over a wide mountainous area around Agrigento, Ansa news agency reported.

The mayor of the small town of San Biagio Platani was also among those targeted in the operation. The official was arrested under charge of external mafia association, for allegedly having sought the mafia's political support in exchange of favors, once elected.

According to prosecutors of the Anti-Mafia District Directorate (DDA) in Palermo coordinating the probe, the mafia group had "close connections with almost all of the other clans in Sicily, and with the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate" based in the Calabria region.

The investigation unveiled the targeted clans extorted money from at least 27 companies, including cooperatives managing migrant reception centers, police said.

Seven firms belonging to those arrested were seized in the operation, it added. Enditem

In the wiretaps the bosses from Agrigento didn‘t trust Palermo mafiosi so much.
"The province of Agrigento is more serious, there are no longer any trustworthy or reliable Palermo people," boss Luciano Spoto was caught saying on a wiretap. "Perhaps only in Corleone are there people with their heads on straight, people who keep their word," he said.

Messina Mafia clan decapitated, 40 arrests
Huge joint police, Carabinieri operation also elsewhere in Italy

(ANSA) - Messina, January 24 - Carabinieri and State police on Wednesday conducted a huge operation to execute 40 arrest warrants for people suspected of belonging to a Mafia clan based in the Sicilian province of Messina, sources said. The operation featured raids in the province as well as in other parts of Italy.
The suspects are accused of crimes including mafia association, extortion, robbery, fraudulent asset transfers and private violence.

Sicilian mafia don't seem to be in a good spot at the moment. Lots of arrests.


Is there a figure for how many people are members?

Laudani mafia family linked to Serie-B football club.

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/6327

Around 5000 members ,as i said already , in Italy you are guilty until proven otherwise , a lot of people arrested in this big busts,later they set them free. Also this is all easily replaceable street people,people who are brains behind mafia,never gets arrested, i do agree that Sicilian Mafia is much weaker than it was in 1980-2000,but they will never see that power again,that time is over.

Why it's over ?
The ndrangheta seem to be the best and strongest in the world
And if they are working together then why would thre sicilians be strong again like they used to be ?

the power of the sicilian mafia and other persistent criminal groups float
it was very strong at the ending of 1800s, weaker under fascism in the 1920s, stable in the 1960s, at its peak in the 1980s, weaker nowadays etc. it depends of several factors, especially political situation

Six arrested in anti-Mafia op against Bagheria clan
Including alleged boss in charge of relations with local clans

(ANSA) - Palermo, January 30 - Carabinieri police in Palermo on Tuesday arrested six suspected members of the local Bagheria clan in an operation coordinated by DDA anti-mafia police.
The suspects are accused of mafia association and aggravated extortion against local retailers and entrepreneurs.
They include Paolo Liga, nephew of Mafia boss Giuseppe Scaduto, a leader of the Bagheria clan who was arrested on October 30 last year and who was in contact with fugitive boss of bosses Matteo Messina Denaro, investigators say.
Liga was allegedly in charge of his clan's relations with other Mafia clans in Palermo and Trapani.
According to a number of 'pentiti', Mafia insiders who turned State witnesses and aided the investigation, the Bagheria clan is able to reorganize after every police operation by immediately replacing its arrested members, according to investigative sources.
Palermo Carabinieri Commander Antonio Di Stasio said the arrests on Tuesday "targeted the process to replace the chiefs and historic affiliates with new generations of criminals, the sons of leaders of the most influential families of Cosa Nostra".

Benedetto Bacchi, one of the major Italian entrepreneurs in the gaming and betting industry, is the key character of the investigation of the DDA of Palermo that today led to 31 arrests. One million euros a month with clandestine bets.
The 31 persons are accused, for various reasons, of mafia association, laundering, self-laundering, fraudulent transfer of values ​​aggravated by the mafia method, unfair competition aggravated by the mafia method, criminal association aimed at the illegal collection of bets and fraud against the state, drugs and more.
Bacchi would have built a network of illegal betting agencies, more than seven hundred throughout Italy, capable of generating profits for over one million euros a month. Part of these sums, between 300 and 800 thousand euros a year, was then distributed to Cosa Nostra.
Among the arrested is Francesco Nania, head of the mafia family of Partinico, who was also able to create a thriving import-export market of food products with the United States.

Queen's research suggests the Sicilian mafia arose to power from lemon sales in the 1800s

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/qub-qrs020718.php

the drug dealer salvatore fiandaca was shot dead in riesi (caltanissetta) in a reputed mafia-hit

the accountant manager antonio zuccalà, was shot dead in barrafranca (enna) in an apparent mafia ambush

A 65-year-old mafia member, Gioacchino Alioto, was shot twice in Via Torremuzza, at Kalsa (Palermo) . The man was hit in the chest. Urgently operated at Buccheri La Ferla, he is not in danger of life.

A lot of mafia related murders in Sicily in past week...

The now former mayor of San Biagio Platani in Agrigento, Santo Sabella, resigned the day before the hearing at the Court of the Review of Palermo, and the alleged boss Giuseppe Nugara, with whom he would close an electoral pact in the 2014 administrative elections, remain in prison. The same decision was made for the 38-year-old from Santa Elisabetta, Francesco Fragapane, aspiring provincial head of Cosa Nostra and the main point of reference in the area.