© Igor Petyx / EPA / EFE via ShutterstockPolice officers of the Italian Antimafia Division of Palermo taking part in an operation Tuesday.
More than 1200 police officers took part in the major operation, and the Carabinieri military police said the action was aimed at the development of the mafia in the area. In the raids, the largest in recent years, Italian authorities have sought to prevent the resurgence of the mafia and its governing body known as the Cupola.
Several mafia bosses have been released from prison in recent months after appeals, but investigators allege that those still behind bars have been using encrypted mobile phones to continue their activities.
It has been proven that the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra has changed the practices of its founders and that it no longer needs personal meetings.
A local leader remains in hiding and has control over organized crime in his local district, police said, they write.
For more than 100 years, Sicily's notorious mafia has had control over local neighborhoods and towns, extorting businesses by "providing protection" and making profits from the drug trade.
Then, in 1993, the so-called "boss of bosses" Salvatore "Toto" Riina was arrested in Palermo, and in 2023, the notorious mafioso, Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested after arriving at a local clinic.
Although many mafia members are in prison, the carabinieri say they still managed to smuggle small mobile phones into their cells in an attempt to continue their criminal activities.
The police learned about the mafia's coded conversations by installing listening devices in their homes and cars. However, they have yet to decipher them.
La Repubblica writes that police are still looking for participants in the chat who use pseudonyms such as Robert de Niro and Spider Man.
Today's raids began before dawn, targeting clans across Palermo, from Tommaso Natale in the north of the city to Porta Nuova in the centre. The investigation covered a range of crimes, from mafia links and drug trafficking to attempted murder and armed crime.
Among those arrested are several mafia bosses who were previously released from prison after serving sentences. Among them is suspected Tommaso Lo Presti, who spent 12 years in prison before being released in 2023.
Last year, controversy erupted when it was revealed that Lo Presti celebrated his wedding anniversary in a church in Palermo where prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, a famous anti-mafia fighter, is buried.
Comment: Reuters adds: