350,000 euros of property seized from mafia boss' wife

Crotone (Italy), Sep 13 (IANS/AKI) Italian tax police on Wednesday impounded real estate worth 350,000 euros form the wife of an alleged Calabrian mafia boss Vincenzo Comberiati.

The assets seized from Paola Ceraudo, included a luxury villa and 17 plots of land in Petilia Policastro and Mesoraca in the province of Crotone, police said.

The property seizures were carried out on the orders of anti-mafia prosecutors in Catanzaro and followed a complex probe, according to police.

Investigators watched suspects and carried out cross-checks on bank accounts to trace the assets to Ceraudo, police said.

Comeriati allegedly heads the Calabrian mafia or 'Ndrangheta' in the town of Petilia Policastro, and was last year sentenced to life in jail.

Drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering rackets have in the past few decades made the 'Ndrangheta Italy's wealthiest and most powerful international crime syndicate.

Investigators have seized hundreds of millions of euros of suspected 'Ndrangheta assets in recent years in an ongoing crackdown.

--IANS/AKI

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