Italian police arrested 55 mobsters

(Patria) - Italian police have arrested 55 people suspected of being connected to the Sicilian mafia.

The suspects are accused of extortion, drug trafficking, and possession of weapons and explosives, the Italian police announced yesterday.

Raids were carried out mainly around the Sicilian city of Caltanissetta, but also in other parts of Italy. About 500 police officers participated.

- This operation is particularly important not only in terms of quantity, but also quality - said Salvatore De Luca from the public prosecutor's office in Caltanissetta.

Cosa Nostra is the most famous mafia organization in Sicily, and there are also smaller ones like Stidda.

The focus of the operation was on the city of Gela, where two major mafia families joined forces with Stidda in drug trafficking.

They used illegally earned money to build several greenhouses for growing cannabis. They sold the drugs in the surrounding area or exchanged them with the Calabrian mafia Ndrangheta for cocaine.

According to De Luca, it is particularly worrying that the suspects possessed weapons.

- The result is a Cosa Nostra that is in business, deals drugs, has a significant arsenal of weapons, and is ready to kill and demonstrate force - he added.