During an international operation coordinated by the Palermo District Anti-Mafia Directorate and conducted by the Finance Police of the Palermo provincial command, three people were arrested for using illicit funds aggravated by mafia facilitation. Assets, companies, and financial assets worth over €200 million were seized.
The operation, which took place in several countries, allowed the reconstruction of an enormous fortune resulting from the reinvestment, including through offshore companies, of profits made since the 1980s from drug trafficking under the aegis of mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro.
The investigative activities, coordinated by Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia and Deputy Prosecutor Vito Di Giorgio, took place not only in Italy, but also in Andorra, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Lebanon, the Principality of Monaco, and Spain (in the cities of Malaga, Marbella, Benahavis, and Puerto Banús), in close collaboration with local judicial and police authorities.
(Unioneonline)
