Calabrian Mafia

8 Stories

Italy to Take More Children From Mafia Families

Program places seized children in foster care to break criminal cycle

(Newser) - Italy has decided to broaden its effort to break the cycle of organized crime by intervening in a most drastic way: by seizing children without warning to place them in a life away from their mafia families. The program, which has been in use in the Calabria region since 2012,...

Prison Can't Hold Mafia Boss
Prison Can't Hold Mafia Boss

Prison Can't Hold Mafia Boss

Italian drug kingpin escapes in Uruguay

(Newser) - An Italian mafia boss and three other inmates broke out of a prison in Uruguay through a hole in the roof, the government said. The escapees robbed the owners of a farmhouse nearby before vanishing, per CNN . Rocco Morabito, who was arrested in 2017 after being a fugitive for more...

Mobster 'Fed Alive to Pigs'
 Mobster 'Fed Alive to Pigs' 

Mobster 'Fed Alive to Pigs'

Italian cops say killing was revenge for rival's murder

(Newser) - There are fates worse than sleeping with the fishes. Police in Italy believe a Mafia boss who disappeared last year was kidnapped by a rival clan who beat him with metal bars before feeding to a herd of pigs who devoured him as he screamed for mercy, the Telegraph reports....

Italian Mafia's New Target: Pope Francis?

Mobsters 'nervous and agitated' by pontiff's anti-corruption stance, prosecutor says

(Newser) - Pope Francis' anti-corruption stance could put him at risk from "the most dangerous, most unified, and most difficult to penetrate" mafia clan in Italy, an Italian prosecutor tells the Washington Post . As "Pope Francis is dismantling centers of economic power in the Vatican," mobsters are "nervous...

Italy Fires City's Entire Council Over Mafia Ties

Reggio Calabria will be run by 3 commissioners until elections

(Newser) - Reggio Calabria has really cleaned house: The entire government—meaning the mayor and all 30 council members—have been fired in the southern Italy city after some were suspected of having mafia ties. Officials say that's a first for a provincial capital, although smaller cities have seen the same...

Gianni Versace Was Murdered by Mafia: Book

Debts to the mob allegedly got designer killed

(Newser) - A new book alleges that Gianni Versace was murdered over Mafia debts—and that the Mafia even considered stealing his ashes from the cemetery in order to blackmail his family. The 50-year-old fashion designer was gunned down outside his Miami apartment in 1997 by Andrew Cunanan, but Metastasi, by former...

'Scarface' Mobster Nailed on Facebook

Italian cops nabbed thug while he was chatting online

(Newser) - Pasquale Manfredi is a "cold and cruel" assassin but he has a soft spot for Facebook that proved to be his undoing, according to Italian police. Manfredi—nicknamed "Scarface"—was tracked down through an Internet key to access the site. He was chatting on Facebook when cops...

Mafia Linked to Italian Race Riots

Squalid conditions, poor pay tied to mobbed-up contractors

(Newser) - The Mafia is suspected of helping to spark Italy's worst race riots in years. More than 1,000 African workers in southern Italy were shipped to detention centers following weekend clashes sparked after a legal immigrant was wounded in a mystery pellet attack. Immigrants blamed racism for the shooting, and...

8 Stories