Italian police arrested more than 160 alleged members of a mafia group and seized millions of dollars in what was considered a major crackdown on organized crime.
Speaking to reporters in Bologna, Italy’s anti-mafia chief prosecutor Franco Roberti hailed the operation as an "historic and unprecedented" blow for the group suspected for much of Europe’s cocaine trade.
“This is a deeply implanted and very dangerous criminal organization," he said about 'Ndrangheta,' an organized crime clan from Calabria in southern Italy. Authorities say the group has become deeply rooted in the business community in the rich northern region of the country.
With wealth in the billions of dollars from cocaine trading, 'Ndrangheta has become the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy, surpassing Sicily's Cosa Nostra and Naples’ Camorra.
Last week, Italian police arrested about 30 people in Rome in connection with the group. Dozens of others were detained in and around Milan in November.
