Raids in Brazil
Italy’s police succeed in massive strike against Cosa Nostra
August 14, 2024, 2:45 am
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The Italian financial police investigated the Cosa Nostra environment for years, and then they struck in Brazil. Investigators seize assets worth 50 million euros and arrest a suspect accused of embezzling mafia money for decades.
Italian financial police say they have scored a significant blow against the mafia in Brazil. Police officers from the Sicilian Regional Command, along with their Brazilian counterparts, confiscated assets worth 50 million euros during a large-scale operation in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, the Financial Police announced. A number of properties in Italy and Switzerland were also raided.
A local businessman from Sicily was arrested in Natal, Brazil. Italian news agency “Agenzia Nova” reported that he helped launder money for Cosa Nostra, a mafia branch, through investments in Brazilian companies since 2000. The leading man, whose identity the police did not reveal, was said to have been in contact with one of Palermo’s “most influential men of honor” since 2000, using the term high-level mafiosi, the agency said. According to Sicilian local media, it is said to be Mafia boss Giuseppe Calvaruso, who was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to a long prison term in 2022.
Brazilian police have seized assets from 17 people, the finance ministry said. They have been accused of aiding and abetting a mafia-like organization, intimidation and money laundering. The attack was preceded by years of investigation. More than 100 Italian financial police officers are involved in the raids, some of whom have traveled in recent days to support their colleagues in Brazil.
During the anti-Mafia raids, properties in several Italian regions and Switzerland were raided, police said. According to Eurojust, the European judicial commission, Swiss authorities cooperated in the cross-border operation.
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