Sicilian police seize £1.15bn assets from family with suspected links to the island's Cosa Nostra mafia
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Version 0 of 1. Italian police seized assets worth more than €1.6bn (£1.15bn) from five Sicilian siblings suspected of links to the island’s Cosa Nostra mafia, in one of the biggest ever such operations. The three Virga brothers and two sisters, who run businesses in the area around the regional capital Palermo, allegedly received help from the criminal network to secure construction contracts related to public works. There was no immediate comment from the Virga family. The Palermo division of Italy’s dedicated anti-mafia police, Direzione Investigativa Antimafia (DIA), said they had seized dozens of bank accounts, motor vehicles and 800 buildings, which include houses and factories. “Today’s seizure is certainly one of the biggest the DIA has carried out in its 20-year history,” said Adelmo Lusi, the unit’s second in command. The wealth the Virgas had built up was “enormous for a family that, until 30 years ago, was made up of carpenters, manual labourers and housewives”, he added. Three years of recession have helped corruption flourish across Italy, especially in the poorer south. Cosa Nostra – or “our thing” – was the country’s most powerful mafia group during the 1980s and 1990s but has since been eclipsed by the Naples-based Camorra and the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta organisations. The Virga brothers collaborated with Cosa Nostra to share out public works contracts among their businesses, 30 of which have been seized, police said. The family, which also had links to jailed mob boss Salvatore “Toto” Riina, had reported alleged mafia extortion attempts against it in the past but police said they believe this to be a ruse aimed at covering the brothers’ tracks. “The attempt by the mafia to become the anti-mafia... was pure strategy,” Palermo DIA director Riccardo Sciuto said. Reuters |