About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2018)
10A Thursday, December 6, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com WORLD Crackdown on Italian mob leads to 84 arrests CHRISTOPH REICHWEIN I Associated Press Masked police stand in an ice parlor in Duisburg, western Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, as authorities conduct coordinated raids in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands in a crackdown on the Italian mafia. BY MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Nether lands — In an investigation that underscored an Italian crime syndicate’s role as a leading player in interna tional cocaine trafficking, police in four countries arrested at least 84 sus pected mobsters Wednes day in a series of carefully coordinated raids. Those detained allegedly work for the Italian ‘ndrang- heta criminal network that traffics in cocaine on a global scale. “It’s almost a cliche, but the operation carried out today confirms again the great danger of the ‘ndrangheta, not just in drug trafficking, where it’s the undisputed leader, but (also) in the financial sphere,” said Francesco Ratta, a top police official in the southern Italian region of Calabria. “It’s an evolved ‘ndrangheta, that we can say knows no borders .. It’s an ‘ndrangheta that day by day changes its skin .. but still keeps ties” to its home base in Calabria. European officials announced the arrests at the Hague headquarters of Eurojust, the European Union prosecutors agency set up to bolster the fight against cross-border crime in the 28-nation bloc. Euro just and EU police agency Europol coordinated the raids. “Today we send a clear message to organized crime groups across Europe,” said Filippo Spiezia, vice president of Eurojust, the EU prosecution agency that coordinated the raids. “They are not the only ones able to operate across bor ders; so are Europe’s judi ciary and law enforcement communities.” As well as arresting doz ens of suspected mobsters in Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, police seized drugs and around $2.3 million. It was the second signifi cant mob takedown in as many days. On Tuesday, Italian authorities said they had dismantled the rebuilt upper echelons of the Mafia in the Sicilian capital of Palermo by arresting 46 people, including the man presumed to have taken over as provincial kingpin. Wednesday’s raids were the culmination of a two- year investigation code- named Pollino against the powerful ‘ndrangheta crim inal group on allegations of cocaine trafficking, money laundering, bribery and vio lence, Eurojust said. The ‘ndrangheta is Italy’s most powerful criminal organization, eclipsing by far Sicily’s Cosa Nostra or the Naples area Camorra. Eurojust said the massive probe was the biggest of its kind in Europe. About four tons of cocaine were traced during the investigation. Cocaine and ecstasy pills also were seized in Wednes day’s raids. Italian police hailed the close cooperation between European police forces and Eurojust’s coordination, saying it was an important new crime-fighting tactic that allowed investigators in different countries to share information in real time. But Italy’s top Mafia pros ecutor, Federico Cafiero De Raho, also sounded a note of caution, saying the raids only scratched the surface of the powerful ‘ndrangheta, whose tentacles and illicit activities, including huge cocaine trafficking opera tions, were spread all over the world. Speaking in The Hague, Cafiero de Raho said the arrests “are nothing for ‘ndrangheta. There are thousands of people who should be arrested and bil lions of euros that should be seized.” A leading expert on the ‘ndrangheta, Catanzaro- based Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, recently said the Calabrian-based ‘ndrang heta syndicate has for years been buying up hotels, restaurants and other properties in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany to both launder some of the billions of dol lars it rakes in through cocaine trafficking, as well as invest that money to start “clean” businesses and earn even more revenue. Putin: If US develops banned missiles, Russia will follow suit BY NATALIYA VASILYEVA Associated Press MOSCOW — Russian President Vladi mir Putin on Wednesday warned the United States that if it walks out of a key arms treaty and starts developing the type of missiles banned by it, Russia will do the same. Putin’s remarks to Russian news agen cies on Wednesday came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced at a NATO meeting that Wash ington will suspend its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 60 days, citing Russian “cheating.” The U.S. has shared intelligence evi dence with its NATO allies that it says shows that Russia’s new SSC-8 ground-fired cruise missile could give Moscow the abil ity to launch a nuclear strike in Europe with little or no notice. Russia has denied the accusations. President Donald Trump earlier this year announced his decision to withdraw from the INF, accusing Russia and China — which is not a signatory to the treaty — of violating it. Putin on Wednesday accused the United States of making up excuses for pulling out of the pact, saying that the U.S. first made up its mind to walk out of it and only then “started to look for the reasons why they should do it.” “It seems that our American partners believe that the situation has changed so much that the U.S. has to have this type of weapons,” he said in televised remarks. “What would be our response? A very sim ple one: in that case, we will do the same.” Speaking at a briefing of foreign military attaches earlier, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of the Russian military, warned of a Russian response and said that it would be the countries that host U.S. intermediate-range missiles that would become immediate targets for Russia. 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