Is The Mafia The Real Pioneers In Using Drones For Lethal Attacks

How Sicily’s Mafia Plotted To Conduct Hits With Drones -- National Post

A Mafia turncoat has revealed that Sicily’s Cosa Nostra was a pioneer in the use of killer drones, testing bomb-loaded remote-controlled aircraft in the early 1990s.

Two decades before the U.S. began using Reaper drones to strike terrorist targets in the Middle East, mobsters in Palermo were testing ways to kill rivals from the sky, Gaspare Spatuzza, a former mafioso, told a court Wednesday. Spatuzza said he was ordered by one of the Graviano brothers — two Palermo bosses in the 1990s — to buy and test radio-controlled aircraft with explosives attached.

“Graviano ordered me to buy a radio-controlled aircraft,” he said. “He said others had already bought them and we needed to carry out tests for transforming them into flying bombs by loading them with explosives.”

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My Comment:  I guess they wanted something like this. Talk about being ahead of your time.

A Look At The Calabrian Mafia Known As The 'Ndrangheta'

Inside the World of the 'Ndrangheta: Encounters with the Calabrian Mafia -- Spiegel Online

The shadowy Calabrian mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, has become one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the Western world through its dominance of the European cocaine trade. For the first time, local syndicate bosses described their business model to SPIEGEL. It's a mixture of entrepreneurial talent, skillful management and deadly ruthlessness.

For the meeting with SPIEGEL, Carlo has suggested a café in a town outside Munich. He is sitting in the shade of tall trees, a fit man in his late 50s, with alert eyes and a shaved head. He explains why men like him never go to prison, even though they bring cocaine to Germany by the ton.

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My Comment: The Russian crime syndicates are still the ones to worry, but Italy's mafia groups are a scourge that will plague Italy for generations to come.

Italy's Mafia Thrives In Global Financial Meltdown

People march in remembrance of the victims of organized crime in Naples. An alleged boss of the Camorra mafia based in the Italian city of Naples has been arrested by police at an upmarket apartment in Rome, Italian press said. (AFP/File/Mario Laporta)

From Yahoo News/AP:

NAPLES, Italy – While businesses around the world are hunkering down for survival, the Italian mob is living a golden moment.

Italy's various organized crime syndicates — often lumped together colloquially as Mafia Inc. — are gobbling up gas stations, muscling in on supermarket franchises, making loans to cash-starved businesses, taking over trattorias and acquiring buildings in swank neighborhoods in Rome and Milan, investigators say.

These mobsters have lots of what is in short supply for many businesses these days — liquidity — as well as centuries-honed expertise in preying on the vulnerable, whose ranks are swelling in the current financial crisis.

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My Comment: Criminal enterprises and organizations are responsible for much of the world's conflicts and suffering. From Drug Cartels to criminal organizations that exploit people's weaknesses, this part of mankind has always been with us .... and probably always will be.

Sicilian Mafia 'Decapitated' By Mass Arrests, Say Police

Photo: Members of the caribinieri outside their Palermo HQ Tuesday following raids against Sicilian mafia suspects.

From CNN:

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Italian paramilitary police carried out massive arrests Tuesday against the Sicilian mafia in Palermo, "decapitating" the organization's leadership structure, the head of the city's carabinieri said.

More than 1,200 Italian carabinieri, backed by helicopters, took part in the operation and arrested 89 suspects, added Colonel Teo Luzzi, the head of the carabinieri in the regional capital Palermo.

The operation began at 3:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. ET Monday) and was still going on at midmorning. Palermo officials said charges would include association with the mafia, extortion, and arms and drug trafficking.

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Mafia Still Prospering With A World Economic Slowdown

Italian policemen patrol in Torretta near Palermo in 2007. The Italian mafia, the country's organised crime network and biggest enterprise, has not been affected by the global economic crisis, a report by an Italian business association said Tuesday.
(AFP/File/Marcello Paternostro)

Italian Mafia Untouched By Global Economic Crisis:
Business Group -- Yahoo News/AFP

ROME (AFP) – The Italian mafia, the country's organised crime network and biggest enterprise, has not been affected by the global economic crisis, a report by an Italian business association said Tuesday.

The mafia has a turnover of 130 billion euros (163 billion dollars) -- surpassing any other Italian enterprise in 2008 -- and a profit approaching 70 billion euros, said the report by Confesercenti, a group of 270,000 businesses specialising in the tourism and service sectors.

"Unlike other businesses, the mafia has been little affected by the international economic and financial crisis," the report said.

That fact makes the mafia "even more dangerous," said the association's president Marco Venturi.

He said the mafia could use the current weakness in other businesses and the uncertainty in the economy to boost its position.

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