Italian nun swept up in mafia arrests

Italian police arrested 25 suspects believed to be affiliated with the ‘ndrangheta, or Italian mob, the Italian federal police said on Thursday. Authorities also seized roughly 1.8 million euros ($1.9 million) and other assets owned by those individuals as part of the operation. The arrests capped off an investigation that began in 2020, the federal police explained.

Throughout the four-year investigation, the federal police charted the ‘ndrangheta mob’s Brescia affiliate organization. Authorities also uncovered connections between the Brescia mob and other ‘ndrangheta branches elsewhere in the country. The suspects arrested on Friday were involved in drug dealing, extortion, illegal arms trafficking, usury, and corruption, the federal police said.

So, how does a nun fit into all of this? Authorities did not identify the nun in their statement but said she assisted the ‘ndrangheta by acting as an intermediary between mobsters and their incarcerated partners. The nun had access to prison facilities so she could minister to individuals held there, the authorities said. But she used those connections to pass messages between alleged mobsters on the outside and their imprisoned associates.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Muncy’s report in the WORLD archives about how the Italian police finally arrested a mobster in January 2023—after a 30-year chase.