Italy cracks down on crime: Masonic lodge busted by police in Sicily, Camorra Mafia "superboss" arrested

Sputnik
Thu, 21 Mar 2019 13:16 UTC

© CC BY-SA 2.0 / Spencer Means / Masonic symbols

Numerous local politicians, officials and even police officers turned out to be connected to the lodge's illegal activities, which included corruption, bribery, drug trafficking, embezzlement, and interfering with the work of the judicial system.

Police from the commune of Trapani, Sicily have arrested 27 people during a raid on a local "masonic lodge" involved in illegal activities, the newspaper Giornale di Sicilia reported. Among those arrested in the course of the operation named "Artemisia" were former and present politicians, officials, including a former federal lawmaker and a former mayor of Castelvetrano commune, and even police officers.

They now face charges of committing crimes against the local administration, justice system, and for organising a crime syndicate. The lodge reportedly had great influence over the local government and influenced the distribution of its budget. Its members also allegedly managed to obtain secret information about ongoing investigations and influence them by tampering with evidence.

The group was reportedly also involved in a number of other illegal undertakings, including drug trafficking, bribery, fraud, and embezzlement. Apart from the 27, that have already been arrested, police are interviewing 10 others, whom they suspect of helping the lodge's activities.

Notably, the lodge itself was based in Castelvetrano - the hometown of one of the Cosa Nostra's leaders, Matteo Messina Denaro, who is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous criminals and who has long been wanted under an international arrest warrant.

Comment: The Local.it reports that earlier this month they arrested a Camorra Mafia "superboss" who's been on the run for the last 14 years:

Di Lauro, 38, was arrested without a fight at a modest apartment where he lived with his wife in the Chiaiano district in southern city Naples, police said.

He was sitting with his two cats and eating pasta when police arrested him in an operation involving around 150 officers.

Police allowed Di Lauro to change his clothes and freshen up before taking him away, local media reported. He voiced concern for the fate of his cats.

Naples police chief Antonio De Iesu told a press conference that "unusual activity" had led police to the suspect, previously convicted of criminal association.

Police found no weapons and a small sum of money in the flat.

© AFP

Italian police on Saturday arrested top mafia fugitive Marco Di Lauro, the fourth son of ex-Camorra boss Paolo Di Lauro, after over 14 years on the run.

An international arrest warrant was issued for Di Lauro in 2006, and he was one of Italy's four most-wanted criminals, according to the interior ministry website.

Italian media said he was considered the second most dangerous man in Italy, after Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro.

Photos in Italian media showed Di Lauro wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt being brought to the police station in Naples by car, with a police helicopter overhead.

Around 100 people including police gathered outside shouting "well done, well done", according to television images.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted his thanks to the police for the arrest of the "super fugitive".

Far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini voiced congratulations for a "very important operation".

The high-profile arrest was reportedly linked to the murder earlier in the day of the wife of a man linked to Di Lauro, Salvatore Tamburrino.

Tamburrino, 40, handed himself in for shooting dead Norina Mattuozzo, 33, shortly before De Lauro's arrest.

She was found dead at her parents' home in Naples where she had gone to live after her relationship with Tamburrino deteriorated, local media reported.

Police chief De Iesu refused to confirm or deny a link between the murder and Di Lauro's arrest.

Di Lauro had been on the run since he escaped a massive police swoop in 2004 known as the "night of the handcuffs".

An informant said in 2010 that Di Lauro was responsible for at least four murders.

Marco's father Paolo Di Lauro was head of the Camorra clan that operates in Naples' impoverished Scampia and Secondigliano neighbourhoods.

He has been in prison since 2005, and Marco had reportedly taken over running the much-weakened clan.

At least 130 people were killed in a bloody power struggle there after the Amato-Pagano clan split from the Di Lauro clan in 2004.

Marco Di Lauro, reportedly known within the family by the code F4 for "fourth son", had nine brothers and one sister.

All the brothers are now either in prison or dead, Italian newspapers reported.

It appears that, unlike most Western governments, Italy is keeping its word and really is doing all it can to crack down on the notorious crime networks that operate in its country from the gypsy Mafia clans to Italy's Central Bank. This is the kinda of action citizens throughout Europe are crying out for:

• 'Prison time for fraudsters': Salvini calls for elimination of Italy's Central Bank
• Eurojust coordinate arrest of 84 across Europe in crackdown on Italian mob
• Rome's police seize 8 of notorious Casamonica gypsy Mafia family's villas, evicting 30 members
• 'They hate Italians and must resign': Salvini attacks mayors resisting immigration rules
• 170 mobsters and public officials arrested in mafia raids across Italy and Germany
• The mafia, fake news, and monopolies: Press freedom in Italy

Also check out SOTT radio's:

• NewsReal #26: Globalization vs Nationalism - The Hidden Causes of The Yellow Vest Protests in France
• NewsReal: Populism Explained
• NewsReal: Will Globalists' War on Nationalism Lead to Bloody Revolution?
• NewsReal: Yellow Vest Protests, Brexit Farce - Revolutionary Climate in Western Europe?