No competition allowed: Government Mafiosi Arrest Private Sector Mafiosi

U.S., Italian Police Arrest 80 in Gambino Crackdown

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. and Italian authorities arrested about 80 people in the biggest mafia crackdown in 20 years, part of an effort to cut renewed ties between New York's Gambino crime ``family'' and the organization run by Sicilian mobsters.

The FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies made 59 arrests, the agency said, while Italian police arrested about 20 people in an operation called ``Old Bridge,'' Italy's top mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso said today. The last joint mob roundup of a similar scale was in 1988, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Palermo authorities broke up a heroin trafficking ring known as ``Iron Tower.''

``Whenever the relationship between the American and Sicilian mafias is interrupted, it's always resuscitated,'' said Palermo prosecutor Domenico Gozzo, who was part of the probe. ``Many of these mobsters have family on both sides of the Atlantic.''

U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, announced charges today against 62 individuals, many of them sworn members of the Gambino group, which federal officials say is one of the largest and most powerful mafia organizations in the U.S. Only three of those charged haven't been arrested, FBI spokesman Jim Margolin said in a phone interview.

Racketeering, Murder

Those charged in New York were accused of crimes including racketeering, murder, extortion, gambling and labor violations. In Italy, defendants were accused of murder, money laundering and participating in organized crime. Italian authorities issued 30 warrants.

The founder of the Gambinos, Carlo Gambino, was born in Sicily. The family, one of five crime organizations that have existed for decades in the New York metropolitan area, was formerly headed by John Gotti, nicknamed the ``Teflon Don'' for his initial acquittals on mob-related charges.

He was convicted of federal racketeering charges in 1990 and died in prison.

Those charged today by U.S. authorities included the three highest-ranking Gambino crime family members not already in prison, said Benton Campbell, the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn. All were charged with racketeering, conspiracy and multiple violent offenses, crimes which carry terms of as long as 20 years in prison on each count, Campbell said.

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No competition allowed: Government Mafiosi Arrest Private Sector Mafiosi

No competition allowed: Government Mafiosi Arrest Private Sector Mafiosi

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