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 »
Aug 17 2007
Why are we asking this question now?
Six Italian men who worked at a pizzeria in the north German industrial city of Duisburg were shot dead outside their restaurant at 2 o’clock on Wednesday morning. They were affiliated to one branch of the ‘ndrangheta, the criminal organisation based in Calabria, at the toe of the Italian boot. Investigators believe their killers belonged to another clan in the same organisation. The two clans, which come from the same village, have been engaged in a bloody feud since 1991. Continue Reading »
Mar 31 2007
European Union cracks down on mafia contracts; Two Italian MEPs under suspicion
150 police officers in 40 raids were carried out across Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg as authorities are investigation EU contracts linked to criminal organisations, including the Italian mafia. Continue Reading »
Dec 31 2006
Even by the theatrical standards of the Bulgarian underworld, the double shooting of suspected mafia rivals on the same day was pure Hollywood.
Dimitar Vuchev was driving with his wife in central Sofia when his Audi was riddled with bullets. Hours later, when Radoslav Velkov presented himself at a police station to answer questions about the morning’s events, a gunman was waiting to blast him in the head. Continue Reading »
Dec 19 2006
SOFIA, Bulgaria – Krasimir Dimitrov was headed to lunch with friends at a restaurant on a busy street in Bulgaria’s capital. He never made it.
A gunman with a silencer pumped several bullets into the wealthy businessman’s head and body as he stepped out of his car. Continue Reading »
Dec 04 2006
Recently, I was surprised to read in The Sun that in the new year the European Union was going to fling its doors wide open for the mafia. The announcement was timed to the EU entry of Romania and Bulgaria on January 1, 2007. It did not sound welcoming. Continue Reading »
