Mafia investment ‘gave Silvio Berlusconi his big break’

The Mafia invested heavily in a 1970s housing project which gave Silvio Berlusconi his big break in business, an Italian court heard.
The allegation that Sicily’s Cosa Nostra helped finance the project was made in a Palermo court by Massimo Ciancimino, the son of a Mafia don who was close to the head of the Sicilian [...]

Witness links Berlusconi associate to top mobster

PALERMO, Sicily (Reuters) – The key witness in a Mafia trial in Sicily told a court Tuesday that a close ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had direct links with the former “Boss of Bosses” of the Cosa Nostra.
Massimo Ciancimino, son of a convicted Mafia associate and former mayor of the Sicilian capital Palermo, told [...]

Italian Mob’s Profits Soar in Lousy Economy

Italy’s Mafia cleaned up to the tune of $109 billion in profits last year thanks to a well-honed knack for wringing money out of desperate people in a recession.
Italian crime syndicates raised profits by almost 8 percent in 2009 over the previous year by taking advantage of Italy’s distressed economy, according to a new report [...]

Berlusconi vows to beat Mafia pathology

Reggion Calabria, Italy – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday announced a new drive to rid Italy of the “terrible pathology” of organised crime.
“The mafia – the ‘Ndrangheta and the other organisations, are a terrible pathology for our country,” Berlusconi said as he unveiled a 10-point campaign against organised crime.
He announced the plan after convening [...]

Tourist map shows how to avoid the Mafia

GERMAN tourists can now obtain a map of Sicily’s capital Palermo flagging the shops that refuse to pay extortion money to the Mafia.
“The Addiopizzo tourist map signals all the shops in Palermo that have pledged not to pay racketeering fees,” the German embassy in Rome said in a statement.
The Sicilian mafia, the Cosa Nostra, extorts [...]

Rome gets “Super Mafia”

ITALY’S four main Mafia organisations are believed to have put aside their deadly differences to form a new and dangerous ”fifth mafia” in Rome.
The impoverished south has been the traditional power base for the four big crime syndicates – Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, the Camorra from Campania, the ‘Ndragheta of Calabria and the Sacra Corona Unita [...]

Obama and the mob: Combating organized crime takes backseat in White House

There is a feeling that permeates throughout the law enforcement community that organized crime gangs are getting a free ride during the Obama Administration. While most of the focus of federal law enforcement is on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber crime, federal police agencies must still contend with more traditional anti-crime operations including emerging organized crime gangs. [...]

Murder charge is dismissed against reputed N.J. mob boss

A Superior Court judge today dismissed the murder charge against a reputed mob boss accused of gunning down a man 32 years ago in a Bridgewater motel parking lot.
Michael Coppola, 63, was accused of shooting John “Johnny Cokes” Lardiere, 68, of Maplewood multiple times outside the Red Bull Inn on April 10, [...]

Mafia bosses refute turncoat’s testimony

Two Mafia bosses on Friday refuted testimony by a Cosa Nostra turncoat casting doubt on his allegations that Premier Silvio Berlusconi and a close aide were in cahoots with the Mafia.
Testifying at the appeals trial of Senator Marcello Dell’Utri, a long-time aide to Berlusconi, Filippo Graviano said he never told hitman [...]

Facebook users urge mafia boss to be informant

Users of the popular internet social networking site Facebook have urged Giovanni Nicchi, the Sicilian mafia fugitive boss captured at the weekend, to become an informant.
Since Nicchi was arrested in the southern city of Palermo Saturday, more than 5,000 people have registered on the Facebook page of the Palermo police department’s [...]

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