Italian crime clans unite to form new 'fifth mafia'
Thursday December 24 2009
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 south of Italy 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 lesser known Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia.
Mafiosi are now targeting Rome and the surrounding region of Lazio, according to a study by Libera Informazione, an independent body that monitors Mafia activities.
"This 'New Mafia' is more business-orientated and its members put aside their differences and their different origins to accumulate wealth by working together without stepping on each other's feet," the report said.
Criminal activity in Rome was now on a par with southern Italy, it claimed.
Godfathers have struck up alliances with Chinese, Russian and Romanian criminals, with the capital now "the promised land for foreign mafias". (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Nick Squires in Rome
Irish Independent
