Mafia suspects arrested in Italy, Germany, Canada and Australia

Mar 8, 2011, 11:39 GMT

Rome - Police in Italy, Germany, Canada and Australia on Tuesday arrested a total of 41 suspects in a cross-border operation targeting the Calabrian mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, officials said.

One of those detained was identified as the former mayor of the Australian town of Stirling, Tony Vallelonga.

A suspected local 'Ndrangheta boss, Bruno Nesci, was among six people arrested in Germany, news reports said.

Investigators said the international nature of the sweep confirmed how the 'Ndrangheta has in recent years expanded its criminal activities from its traditional base in the southern Italian region of Calabria.

'Not only in international drug trafficking, but also in setting up its mafia organisational structure,' said Reggio Calabria chief prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone, whose department heads the investigation that led to Tuesday's arrests.

'There exists abroad a perfect reproduction of the Calabrian organisation,' Pignatone said in an interview with private broadcaster Radio 24.

Mobsters based abroad always maintain contact with their 'home base' in Calabria, which they would periodically visit to receive orders and plan common strategies, Pignatone said.

The 'Ndrangheta made international headlines in 2007, when in a gangland shooting between feuding clans, six Italians were killed as they left a restaurant in the western German city of Duisburg. Italian officials have said the three people responsible for the shooting have since been arrested.

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