Mafia arrests

Several bosses from the Sarno clan, a top local crime family, and dozens of other suspects were arrested Wednesday and charged with drug trafficking, extortion and illegal weapons possession.

The group forced businesses to pay protection money, or pizzo, and sold cocaine smuggled from Spain, according to Angelo Mazzagatti, of the Carabinieri paramilitary police.

The suspects were also accused of creating a mafia-like association.

Mazzagatti described the Sarnos as a "very invasive" clan, adding that they had exerted control in the city "not with a mafia war but with strategic alliances."

Wednesday's arrests are part of larger crackdown conducted over the last few months targeting the Sarno, 'Ndrangheta, and the Amato-Pagano clans.

hf/AFP/AP

Editor: Rob Mudge