Italians swoop on huge crime gang

The 'Ndrangheta takes its name from a Greek word for virtue or heroism but is now more powerful than the Sicilian mafia.

Its top boss, Domenico Oppedisano, was picked up in Rosarno, a small coastal town in Calabria.

Also arrested was the man in charge of the gang's businesses in Milan, where the 'Ndrangheta has been making major inroads.

The raids involved 3,000 police across the country. Those arrested faced charges including murder, extortion, arms and drug trafficking and criminal association.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the sweep struck at the heart of the 'Ndrangheta in both its organisation and its finances. It dismantled some of the most powerful families in the organisation and also enabled investigators to shed light on its structure and hierarchy.

The biggest operation was in the Milan region of Lombardy, where 160 people were arrested. They included businessmen and the director of state medical services in the city of Pavia.

The last big operation against the Calabrian mob came in the 1990s. Since then, it has expanded its power, not only in Italy but elsewhere.

A clan war spread to Germany in 2007, when six Italians were gunned down in retribution for an earlier killing as they left a birthday party in Duisburg. All three people responsible for the shooting have been arrested.

Milan has become the base for the organisation, which migrated to the north in the 1970s and 1980s. Nearly all of the clans are present in Lombardy.