The carabinieri arrested in Palermo 15 people belonging to the Porta Nuova Mafia clan, accused of extortion, drug smuggling and theft. The operation, called “Eleio”, is the continuation of another investigation that at the end of 2008 led to the discovery of a project for the rebuilding of the Mafia structure. Now the police managed to reconstruct the organization of the clan, which has a central role in the new Mafia, and the Borgo Vecchio family. The clan is led by bosses Gaetano Lo Presti, Giovanni Lipari, Gerlando Alberti, nephew of one of the historical mafia leaders, and Salvatore Milano. Thanks to environmental tappings, a bet shop, that one of the suspects, Antonino Abbate, used as his office to manage the Borgo Vecchio family criminal businesses, was discovered.

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute