Italian police arrest 46 ‘mafia’ members

Italian police have arrested 46 alleged members of the mafia over several murders carried out decades ago and for running a concrete racket on a major motorway.

Two rival clans belonging to the ‘Ndrangheta, the mafia syndicate dominating the southern region of Calabria, would force companies working on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria autoroute to buy concrete from them and hire mafia-controlled subcontracting companies, police told AFP.

The clans also demanded the companies pay a three per cent “tax” on the total worth of the contracts.

Some of those arrested are also accused of several murders carried out during a mafia war between the two clans in the 1980s and 1990s.

“We had uncovered a similar case in 2007 and we arrested several people at that time, but as the works go ahead, the highway moves further south and other mafia clans take part in the racket,” the head of a police unit in Reggio Calabria, Renato Cortese told AFP.

About 500km long, the highway connects the town of Salerno near Naples to the southernmost tip of the Italian peninsula.

The main autoroute in southern Italy, it is renowned for its state of disrepair and traffic congestion.

Source: news.ninemsn.com.au

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