Italian police have launched a series of attacks targeting mafia clans operating in the Sicily capital Palermo.
More than 12,000 officers were involved in the operation, and the military Carabinieri army said it aimed to “dismantle” the mafia in the area.
The biggest attack over the years was seen as a bid by Italian authorities to halt the Mafia’s restructuring of the governing body known as Cupola.
The appeal has released many mafia bosses from prison in recent months. But investigators say people still behind the bar are still using encrypted mobile phones to continue their activities.
They also discovered that the Sicilian Kosa Nostra Mafia had updated their “founder” practices and no longer needed to meet in person.
One local leader stayed in hiding in organized crime in his local district and was still able to shake up, police explained.
For more than a century, Sicily’s infamous mafia have grasped local towns and cities, forced businesses through conservation funds, making great profits from drug trafficking.
In the early 1990s, anti-mafia prosecutors of the Crusades were killed as they tried to fight back.
Later, boss, so-called boss Salvatore “Toto” Lina, was arrested in Palermo in 1993, and in 2023, the infamous gangster Matte O Messina De Naro visited a local clinic.
Many gangs have been in prison, but Carabinieri said they have managed to smuggle small cell phones into cells to continue their criminal activities.
Police say they discovered the mob’s encrypted chat by installing listening devices in the suspect’s home and car. However, they are not yet thought to have broken the encryption, so their ability to eavesdrop is limited.
According to La Republica, police are still trying to hunt down members of the chat who go under nicknames such as Robert De Niro and Spider-Man.
Tuesday’s attack began before dawn, targeting clans across Palermo, from Tonmasonatal north of the city to Portanuova, the centre.
Police said their investigations cover the range of suspects, ranging from mafia associations and drug trafficking to attempted murder and armed crimes.
Several bosses who had already been released from prison after being sentenced to prison are among those arrested.
Among them was Tomaso lo Presti, who spent 12 years in prison before his release in 2023.
There was protest last year when it was revealed that Lo Presti had celebrated his silver wedding anniversary at the Palermo Church, where anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone was buried.
