Billion Dollar Camorra Mafia Clan Bust in Italy

Italian police have made a major move against the Camorra organized crime organization in Naples. In an operation that the Italian police have named “Nemesis” over 200 officers were used to raid multiple properties owned by the Casalesi Clan of the Camorra one of the most powerful clans within the criminal organization. Seized was property including farms and apartments which is estimated to be worth a whopping 700 Million euro’s which is approximately $932 Million dollars U.S. and as much as $2 Billion euro’s once all is said and done.

The Casalesi Clan of the Camorra is based in Naples and was lead by Dante Passarelli until 2004 when he mysteriously fell to his death as he faced charges in a huge anti-mafia case. After Passarelli’s death all his holdings and property was released to his heirs who continued to run the Casalesi clan. Silvio Berlusconi the Italian Prime Minister said that this operation may have been the most important seizure ever in the Italian governments fight against the Mafia.

In January there was a series of initiatives that were used to tackle the mafia launched by Berlusconi which included an agency which manages confiscated properties from operations such as “Nemesis”. There was a law passed in 2008 which gives the Italian government the right to seize assets from the relatives of proven Mafia members. A spokesman for the Italian police said this was a major bust but it still only represents a fraction of the estimated $135 Billion euro’s of revenue that was generated last year alone by the four major crime syndicates there : Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta , Puglia’s Sacra Corona, Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, and Neapolitan Camorra.