Football clubs seized in Mafia crackdown

Published on Friday 22 April 2011 16:45

Two Italian football clubs have been seized by police in part of a multi-million-pound crackdown on Mafia held assets.

The clubs - Interpiana and Sapri - both play in the Italian fourth division and were said by investigators to be under the direct control of two powerful Godfathers, Francesco and Marcello Pesce. Besides the clubs, police also seized assets belonging to the Pesce clan worth more than 150 million, including construction companies, fruit and vegetable businesses, land, cars, trucks and luxury villas.

The operation - codenamed All Clean - took place around the Italian southern city of Reggio Calabria, the stronghold of the local Mafia known as the 'Ndrangheta. Although lesser known than it's more celebrated Sicilian counterparts, investigators say the 'Ndrangheta is more powerful and more lucrative, controlling the drugs supply from South America into Europe.

The operation came about after Giuseppina Pesce, a female relative of the brothers, turned supergrass.

One of the most infamous events involving the 'Ndrangheta was the infamous Duisburg Massacre of 2007 when six men were gunned down in a pizzeria in the German city as part of a feud between rival clans.