Twelve people, including alleged affiliates of the 'Ndrangheta and colluding entrepreneurs, were arrested in Reggio Calabria during an operation conducted by the Dia and the Guardia di Finanza on directives of the district anti-mafia Directorate, directed by Giovanni Bombardieri.
The operation, called "Planning", made it possible to defeat a criminal association that allegedly saw entrepreneurs and families of 'Ndrangheta allies aimed at infiltrating some clans in the construction sector and large food distribution.
Arrests and searches, as part of the operation, also in Lombardy, Abruzzo and Lazio.
According to what emerged from the investigations, the infiltration of the gangs in the construction sector and in the large food distribution would have occurred through the covert participation of their exponents in the economic initiatives managed and organized through companies fictitiously registered to third parties, but also through the assignment of services and supplies to entrepreneurs who are members of the criminal association.
The arrests were made in execution of a custody order issued by the district investigating judge at the request of the DDA.
Those arrested are accused, for various reasons, of mafia association and external involvement in the same crime, as well as of criminal association, use of money of illicit origin, self-laundering and fraudulent transfer of values, all crimes aggravated by mafia methods.
At the center of the investigation is the De Stefano 'ndrangheta clan and its economic relations and joint interests with some entrepreneurs from Reggio Calabria.
Eight of the 12 people involved in the operation ended up in prison, while the remaining four were placed under house arrest.