Police Seize Resorts Believed Connected To Italian Mob, 'Most Aggressive Criminal Organizations'

Italian police have seized 17 resorts valued at approximately $600 million dollars due to possible mob connections. Authorities say the resorts are part of a supposed money laundering scheme for organized crime syndicates.

20 people were arrested over the course of the mob crackdown.

Italian prosecuter Nicola Gratteri told reporters that the resorts appear to be a front for two clans of the 'ndrangheta crime syndicate, which is based in southern Calabria.

The Belfast-based land developer that owned the resorts was involved in the money laundering scheme but his arrest has not been confirmed by authorities.

The 'ndrangheta organization is made up of 6,000-7,000 members. (Gratteri estimates a much higher number. "Altogether in the world, I would say it has maybe 10,000 members," he says.)

The organization brings in an estimated $35 billion dollars a year through drug trafficking and illicit activities. The majority of the criminal syndicate's money comes from the global drug trade. Much of this money is reportedly used to buy legitimate businesses according to the Guardian.

The former Italian interior minister called the 'ndrangheta "the most deep-rooted, the most powerful and the most aggressive of [Italy's] criminal organizations."

Prosecutor Enzo Macri explained to the Guardian that the 'Ndrangeta have edged out the fabled Cosa Nostra to become the largest criminal organization in the world. They did this by going global.

"The Colombians prefer to deal with the Calabrians," says Macri. "They are much more reliable. They don't talk. And they pay on time."

Gratteri estimates that 80% of the cocaine in the European market enters the continent in Calabrian hands.

This crackdown on seaside resorts is important because the 'ndrangheta have proven notoriously difficult to convict.

"We have never had a boss turn state's evidence," said Macri.

Gratteri had a solid reasoning for this.

A Calabrian mobster considering turning state's evidence has to come to terms with betraying maybe 200 of his relatives," he said.