Italian police Tuesday conducted sweeping raids, arresting 98 suspected dons of the crouching Sicilian mafia -- Cosa Nostra -- as they planned to form a new command structure. The raids, the largest in recent years, struck the nascent hierarchy to prevent bloodshed between the bosses.
"The operation has thrown the Mafia into a very serious crisis," said Francesco Messineo, Palermo's chief prosecutor, who ordered the arrests.
The Sicilian Mafia has been trying to overcome disarray in its ranks since Bernardo Provenzano was arrested in April 2006. Many of the top mobster's encrypted notes were cracked, shedding light on Cosa Nostra's organisation and leading to the arrests of some close aides.
"If that operation… brought Cosa Nostra down to its knees, this prevented it from getting up again," said Pietro Grasso, the national anti-Mafia prosecutor.
The operation – called Perseus, after the Greek mythological hero who beheaded Medusa – "severed all the strategically important heads of a new ruling structure that had to deliberate, as it once did, on all serious acts", Grasso said.
The arrests targeted 89 suspected crime family bosses and mobsters intent on setting up a decision-making commission, or "cupola".
(Internet)
"The operation has thrown the Mafia into a very serious crisis," said Francesco Messineo, Palermo's chief prosecutor, who ordered the arrests.
The Sicilian Mafia has been trying to overcome disarray in its ranks since Bernardo Provenzano was arrested in April 2006. Many of the top mobster's encrypted notes were cracked, shedding light on Cosa Nostra's organisation and leading to the arrests of some close aides.
"If that operation… brought Cosa Nostra down to its knees, this prevented it from getting up again," said Pietro Grasso, the national anti-Mafia prosecutor.
The operation – called Perseus, after the Greek mythological hero who beheaded Medusa – "severed all the strategically important heads of a new ruling structure that had to deliberate, as it once did, on all serious acts", Grasso said.
The arrests targeted 89 suspected crime family bosses and mobsters intent on setting up a decision-making commission, or "cupola".
(Internet)
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