Police on Tuesday staged a huge operation to arrest 181 suspected Cosa Nostra members in relation to a probe by investigators in Palermo into the Mafia syndicate's attempt to rebuild in the area of the Sicilian capital after a series of clampdowns over recent years landed thousands of people in jail, ANSA reported.
Among other things, the investigation revealed that jailed Mafia bosses have been able to continue to coordinate criminal activities, including drug trafficking and meetings of mobsters, from prison thanks to micro-SIM cards and encrypted mobile phones illegally smuggled into their cells.
Police said the mafiosi had been aiming to rebuild the cupola or central organising council led by a new boss of bosses, like late notorious leaders such as Totò 'The Beast' Riina and Bernardo 'The Tractor' Provenzano.
Prosecutors also said that a detained boss had been able to view the brutal beating of a subordinate via video link on a smartphone.
The prosecutors also said that jailed and outside bosses had been tipped off about police raids by a network of informants.
They said that Cosa Nostra had been able to regain past wealth thanks to boosting its drug trafficking and distribution operations.
"The bosses on the outside were afraid of criminal probes and were ready to fly the coop," said Palermo Chief Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia.
He also said that clans were buying weapons on the Dark Web and that entire districts of the Sicilian capital had been subjected to protection rackets, like in the past.
"The investigations that led to today's arrests demonstrate that Cosa Nostra is alive and present and communicates with completely new communication channels, does business and tries to reconstitute its army", de Lucia told a press conference in which magistrates and carabinieri illustrated the details of the anti-mafia blitz.
"The operation follows other interventions that confirm the vitality of the mafia, but also the ability of the State to react, which continues to work despite the lack of men; the Prosecutor's Office is short 13 substitutes and one additional", he added.
De Lucia thanked the additional prosecutor Marzia Sabella who coordinated the investigation.
Premier Giorgia Meloni said on social media: "An extraordinary operation by the Carabinieri of the Palermo provincial command led today to the arrest of over 180 people, including several bosses, inflicting a very hard blow to Cosa Nostra.
"A result that confirms the State's incessant commitment to the fight against organized crime".
She added: "The wiretaps say it clearly: 'Italy has become uncomfortable for us, I have to leave,' admitted one of those arrested.
A clear signal: organized crime is in a tight spot, the fight against the mafia has not stopped and will not stop.
"(I say) thanks to the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit and to all the Police Forces who defend the legality and safety of citizens every day.
"The mafia must be defeated with determination and without any compromise.
"The State is here and will not back down." National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Giovanni Melillo said that the Palermo probe has shown the extreme weakness of the high-security penitentiary system which is subjected to the control of criminal organizations.
"Alarming data emerged from this extraordinary investigations by the State Attorney's Office in Palermo: the extreme weakness of the high-security penitentiary circuit which should contain the danger posed by Mafia members subjected to the 41 bis" system, said Melillo.
The prison regime provides for near-total isolation reserved for mafia bosses and other offenders deemed to be highly dangerous.
"The investigation in Palermo clearly shows, confirming what has emerged from other investigative contexts, that the high-security system is subjected to the dominance of crime", Melillo told a press conference.
"It is a delicate theme that must open deep reflection", he added.
