A criminal gang behind one of Italy's biggest cash-for-crash insurance frauds has been smashed, according to Italian police.
The mafia-style clan allegedly staged hundreds of fake car crashes every year before submitting illicit insurance claims using a network of insiders to give the claims credibility.
The fraud was just one of the charges against 70 people sought for arrest in dawn raids by police in the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme, southern Italy.
"The scam permitted the boss to manage his clan, to buy guns and drugs, and to pay his men," said Rodolfo Ruperti, head of the police squad that carried out the investigation.
The group had local insurers, doctors, lawyers and car repairers on the payroll to pull off the fraud against Zurich Insurance Group, Mr Ruperti added.
He said it had earned over a million euros (£843,000) a year.
The insurance scam is just one of the crimes the gang is suspected of.
Boss Giuseppe Giampa, 32, allegedly extorted protection money from local businesses and sold the clan’s votes to the highest bidder in a 2010 mayoral vote.
Police had a breakthrough when Giampa, who is also suspected of ordering 20 murders in a war for control of the city, reportedly turned informant.
Among those arrested on Friday were alleged hitmen thought to be behind 11 killings,
"It was a mafia system that not only stained Lamezia Terme with blood and murder, but it also bled dry the already fragile local economy," provincial police chief Guido Marino said.
A separate string of raids was carried out in Rome as part of a vast anti-mafia operation targeting around 100 people.
The blitz struck a "deadly blow to the mafia cell which had been operating in the capital for years" and was one of the largest operations ever mounted in the capital, police said.
Police spokesman Mario Viola told the news agency AFP that 51 people helping lead "illegal activities" were served with arrest warrants.
Some 500 police officers took part in the Rome raids, along with a helicopter, dog units and maritime police.
Police said the mobsters involved came from "the beating heart of the Roman and Sicilian crime world".
The mafia-style clan allegedly staged hundreds of fake car crashes every year before submitting illicit insurance claims using a network of insiders to give the claims credibility.
The fraud was just one of the charges against 70 people sought for arrest in dawn raids by police in the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme, southern Italy.
"The scam permitted the boss to manage his clan, to buy guns and drugs, and to pay his men," said Rodolfo Ruperti, head of the police squad that carried out the investigation.
The group had local insurers, doctors, lawyers and car repairers on the payroll to pull off the fraud against Zurich Insurance Group, Mr Ruperti added.
He said it had earned over a million euros (£843,000) a year.
The insurance scam is just one of the crimes the gang is suspected of.
Boss Giuseppe Giampa, 32, allegedly extorted protection money from local businesses and sold the clan’s votes to the highest bidder in a 2010 mayoral vote.
Police had a breakthrough when Giampa, who is also suspected of ordering 20 murders in a war for control of the city, reportedly turned informant.
Among those arrested on Friday were alleged hitmen thought to be behind 11 killings,
"It was a mafia system that not only stained Lamezia Terme with blood and murder, but it also bled dry the already fragile local economy," provincial police chief Guido Marino said.
A separate string of raids was carried out in Rome as part of a vast anti-mafia operation targeting around 100 people.
The blitz struck a "deadly blow to the mafia cell which had been operating in the capital for years" and was one of the largest operations ever mounted in the capital, police said.
Police spokesman Mario Viola told the news agency AFP that 51 people helping lead "illegal activities" were served with arrest warrants.
Some 500 police officers took part in the Rome raids, along with a helicopter, dog units and maritime police.
Police said the mobsters involved came from "the beating heart of the Roman and Sicilian crime world".
Source : SkyNews
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