Italian police cracks down on 'Catania Mafia clan' whose bosses gave orders from prison.

More than 100 Carabinieri police officers on Friday carried out a large-scale operation in Italy against suspects of involvement in the Catanian mafia and drug trafficking.

The operation was coordinated by investigators from Catania's anti-mafia directorate, DDA. It was the result of an 18-month investigation and aimed at destroying the local clan "Santapaola Ercolano", law enforcement sources said.

As a result of the actions of law enforcement officers, 13 people were arrested.

Investigators believe that generational conflict pitted young clan members against experienced bosses. Many of the authoritative bosses have been in prisons across Italy for years, but have nonetheless given orders over the phone to run the clan's business, investigative sources said. Therefore, they continued to give instructions on the management of the proceeds of illegal activities, in particular by communicating with "free members through phones that they illegally obtained and could keep in prison which proves the absolute accessibility of penitentiary institutions".

Among the bosses appearing in the investigation is Salvatore Battaglia, leader of the group based in the Villaggio district of Sant'Agata in Catania, together with his brother Santo. During the operation, police seized several weapons, ammunition, one kilogram of cocaine and six kilograms of hashish, the sources said.

Source

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