Italy arrests mafia bosses in biggest crackdown in decades

Italy arrested 160 suspected Cosa Nostra members in the largest crackdown on the mafia in 20 years.

Sicily’s notorious gangs terrorized the southern Italian island for decades, but a police offensive in the 1990s and 2000s left many bosses dead or imprisoned, weakening their influence.

Some “godfathers” were recently released after serving long sentences, though, and quickly started rebuilding: One academic told the Financial Times that the gangs have “extraordinary organizational resilience.” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has stepped up measures against them, and wiretaps revealed efforts to recruit new members and reestablish their dominance. The mafia still has a dark glamor, the FT reported, but Meloni said the arrests were “a very hard blow.”