A wide-ranging operation coordinated by the Ligurian District Anti-Mafia Directorate rocked twelve prisons across Italy this morning. The Genoa Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate conducted searches and seizures in facilities from Fossano to Parma, from Tolmezzo to Santa Maria Capua Vetere, as part of an investigation shedding light on the systematic trafficking of cell phones and SIM cards smuggled into high-security units. Thirty-one people are under investigation for introducing and receiving stolen devices, charges aggravated by the shadow of mafia association.
The investigations uncovered the use of over one hundred and fifty phones and more than one hundred SIM cards by inmates convicted of mafia crimes in the Genoa-Marassi prison. The devices were used to maintain contact with members free or incarcerated elsewhere, exchanging messages and operational orders. Investigators discovered how the phones, often very small, were registered to non-existent or unsuspecting citizens, thanks to the complicity of cell phone shops in Genoa's historic center. They were handed over during family visits or hidden in packages sent to the prison and then circulated among the inmates, using a well-oiled system that was extremely difficult to intercept.
Collaboration with the Marassi prison police led to the seizure of numerous devices, while analysis of telephone and internet traffic consolidated the evidence. According to investigators, this constant flow of communications facilitated the operations of the 'Ndrangheta clans, demonstrating once again the ability of organized crime to adapt and infiltrate even the most stringent levels of the prison system.
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It's incredible how serious the mafia is in Italy, especially in prisons. I hope the authorities can do more to stop this phone trafficking. It's a serious problem that must be addressed.