Police Stage Huge Op Targeting Piromalli ‘Ndrangheta Clan

Rome: The Carabinieri police’s special ROS unit arrested 26 people on Tuesday in a huge dawn operation targeting the Piromalli clan of the powerful Calabria-based ‘Ndrangheta mafia. The clan’s 80-year-old boss, Pino Piromalli, was among the suspects arrested.

According to Ansa News Agency, the Gioia Tauro mobster had been free since 2021 after spending 22 years in prison under the tough 41-bis jail regime. Investigators believe the clan had grown stronger since the release of Piromalli, who was first arrested in 1999 after six years on the run.

The suspects are accused of crimes including mafia-type conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, self-laundering, and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition. The ‘Ndrangheta is considered Italy’s richest mafia due to its control over much of the European cocaine trade, and also its most powerful and dangerous, having eclipsed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra. Its tentacles stretch worldwide.