ROME, Dec 6 — Italian authorities have arrested 25 people, including a nun, in a large-scale operation targeting a criminal gang linked to the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia.
The nun, identified as Anna Donelli, 57, is accused of serving as a conduit between the gang and its associates in prison, leveraging her spiritual role to access penitentiary facilities freely, The Guardian reported
Authorities allege the suspects committed crimes including extortion, arms and drugs trafficking, usury, money-laundering, and vote-buying, seizing more than €1.8 million (RM8.4 million) in illicit earnings during dawn raids across Lombardy, Veneto, and Calabria.
Among those arrested were a former councillor with Brothers of Italy, the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and a former League politician accused of offering his services to the gang.
Prosecutors in Brescia stated that the gang adapted the traditional methods of the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta to northern Italy, focusing on fiscal crimes while maintaining the group’s characteristic violence.
Deputy prosecutor Teodoro Catananti described the group’s “chameleon-like ability to keep up with the times,” using modern methods while exploiting the reputation of the original organisation.
Sister Donelli, who has been volunteering in prisons since 2010 and received a civic award earlier this year, faces charges of external complicity in a mafia association for allegedly conveying information from inmates to the gang.
The ’Ndrangheta, one of the world’s wealthiest organised crime networks, has expanded its influence globally, with this latest operation being part of an ongoing international crackdown on the group.
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