Dec 19 2007
Bernado Provenzano, the former Godfather of the Sicilian Mafia, was worried about being impotent, it has emerged.
Provenzano, 74, was captured in April 2006 after an unprecedented 43 years on the run. Continue Reading »
Dec 18 2007
ROME: ‘Italian and German police on Tuesday arrested four accused members of organized crime clans believed linked to the killings of six Italians in Germany earlier this year. Continue Reading »
Dec 17 2007
Police are claiming another victory in Italy’s war against the mafia with the arrest of Edoardo Contini, described as “perhaps the most dangerous boss in Naples” by the interior minister, Giuliano Amato.
Contini, 52, was captured unarmed late on Friday in a small second-floor apartment in Naples from where he allegedly acted as godfather of an empire dealing in drugs, extortion, prostitution, money lending and illegal immigration. Continue Reading »
Dec 15 2007
A mafia boss considered one of Italy’s 30 most dangerous fugitives has been arrested in Naples, police have said.
Edoardo Contini, aged 52, was detained in a suburb of the southern city on Friday night. Continue Reading »
Dec 15 2007
Del Balso, 37, accused of extortion against Norshield founder
One of the alleged Mafia leaders arrested in the Project Colisée police sweep faces 36 new criminal charges, including an attempt to extort money from John Xanthoudakis, founder of the troubled Norshield Financial Group. Continue Reading »
Dec 14 2007
An accused Genovese crime family member was acquitted last night of murdering a loan shark in a Brooklyn social club in 1994.
The not-guilty verdict in the trial of Queens pizzeria owner Carmine Polito came after five days of jury deliberations.
Polito, 49, and co-defendant Mario Fortunato, 60, who will hear the verdict in his nonjury trial today, were charged with plotting a November 1994 shooting that left loan shark Sabotino Lombardi dead and his cousin Michael D’Urso wounded. Continue Reading »
Dec 12 2007
The Mafia has been accused of bleeding Italy’s health system dry, following a series of deaths linked to the crumbling state of hospitals in the south of the country. Continue Reading »
Dec 12 2007
Italian police allege Saputo was to buy two companies for $600-million, which they say is an inflated price
MONTREAL, ROME — One of Canada’s wealthiest businessmen, Montreal cheese magnate Lino Saputo, is denying that his company has ties to a Mafia money-laundering scheme. Continue Reading »
Dec 12 2007
(ROME) - The mafia has an annual turnover of up to 150 billion euros (220 billion dollars) and is exploiting globalisation to invest in foreign multinationals such as Russian gas giant Gazprom, the head of the Italian parliament’s anti-mafia commission warned Wednesday. Continue Reading »
Dec 10 2007
TOKYO — A Japanese mafia boss was Monday sentenced to death over the killing of five people, including three bystanders, in shootings at a bar and a Tokyo hospital.
The Tokyo District Court found Osamu Yano, 58, guilty of ordering the shooting of a rival gang member in 2003 in a bar in Maebashi, 100 kilometres (62 miles) northwest of Tokyo, in which three bystanders were killed. Continue Reading »
