The daring raid that led to 35 members of mafia members arrested for drug trafficking | News World

35 members of a deadly Sicilian gang have been arrested in a significant crackdown over thousands and thousands in drug trafficking and a used oil scheme.

Italian police arrested 35 members of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia within the town of Niscemi on April 22.

Video from the most effective shows officers carrying out coordinated arrests, with multiple units involved within the operation.

Authorities said 35 people were targeted by court orders, with 32 placed in pre-trial detention and three under house arrest.

With the assistance of canine units, territorial officers, helicopter squadrons and other officers, greater than two dozen were arrested on mafia-type association, external participation in mafia association, aggravated extortion, and illicit competition with violence and threat.

They’re also charged with aggravated personal aiding, illegal waste trafficking, unauthorised waste management activities, an association geared toward drug trafficking and possession for the aim of dealing drugs.

The investigation was described as a development of a previous operation, dubbed ‘Mondo Opposto’ that led to arrests in December 2023, including a figure identified as a mafia boss who allegedly controlled territory through intimidation.

Investigators said the group had infiltrated the local economy, particularly the sector coping with used vegetable oil, imposing contracts on businesses through threats.

They allegedly demanded fixed payments from corporations per contract and litres of oil collected.

There are also greater than 200 alleged drug transactions, involving around 1.5 kilogrammes of cocaine and three kilogrammes of cannabis.

£5.19 million price of assets linked to the illegal waste trade were also seized.

Two years ago, a Mafia boss accountable for dozens of murders was finally arrested after 30 years on the run.

Matteo Messina Denaro was a young man when he went into hiding, but soon became Italy’s most-wanted man.

He had an influence base within the port city of Trapani, in western Sicily, and was considered the highest Cosa Nostra boss even while a fugitive.

A few of the grisly crimes he was found guilty of are two bombings that killed anti-Mafia prosecutors, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, in 1992.

He was also convicted within the murder of a Mafia informant’s young son, who was strangled and dissolved in a vat of acid.

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