Calabrian mafia 'assets' worth over 30 mn euros seized

Reggio Calabria (Italy), May 3 (IANS/AKI) Anti-mafia investigators impounded suspected Calabrian mafia property worth 30 million euros during raids in southern Italy and the central city of Florence on Tuesday.

Tax police seized assets valued at 27 million euros from a businessman in Reggio Calabria and his four sons, who are all currently serving prison sentences for mafia membership and fraud.

The impounded assets included five companies, 14 buildings, 20 plots of land, 43 vehicles and several bank accounts, according to police.

The jailed businessman and his sons allegedly belong to the Calabrian mafia or 'Ndrangheta's Fontana di Reggio Calabria clan.

In a separate operation in Florence, anti-mafia police impounded two well-known restaurants and an apartment worth more than two million euros in total from a 66-year-old 'Ndrangheta suspect named as N.C.

N.C. was earlier convicted of buying drugs from suspected members of the 'Ndrangheta's Arcoti clan, police said.

Anti-mafia police have impounded over 800 million euros of assets since March from businessmen with suspected links to the 'Ndrangheta.

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

--IANS/AKI

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