Sicilian Mafia's Stidda and Piscopo clans had a monopoly over the trafficking and pushing of hashish and cocaine in several Sicilian provinces.
Italian police have arrested 70 people across the country suspected of drug trafficking and money laundering.Police made the arrests in the northern business capital, Milan, and in another city in Lombardy, Varese, as well as in several cities in the southern Sicily, Calabria, Puglia and Campania regions.
'Operation Tsunami', which began in 2004, has uncovered two drug trafficking organisations, each with its own supply channels and extensive networks of drugs pushers who reportedly operated in city squares and streets as well as nightclubs and other youth hangouts. The two gangs are said to be close to the Sicilian Mafia's Stidda and Piscopo clans respectively and to have links to drug cartels in Colombia and criminal organisations in Germany.The gangs reportedly had a monopoly over the trafficking and pushing of hashish and cocaine in several Sicilian provinces.
The drugs were mainly acquired on the outskirts of Milan and in Reggio Calabria and transported south by outwardly respectable couriers.Italy's crime syndicates, the Sicilian Mafia, the Neapolitan Mafia, or Camorra and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta, all thrive on drug trafficking and other illegal activities including arms trafficking and prostitution.
