Italian police have arrested Fabio Tranchina, the suspected former driver to jailed boss Giuseppe Graviano from the Brancaccio clan of Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia, for his alleged role in the 1992 assassination of judge Paolo Borsellino as reported by Adnkronos: "Anti-mafia prosecutors claim Tranchina played a key role in the roadside bombing that killed Borsellino and five of his security detail in a Palermo street on 19 July 1992." Giuseppe Graviano and his brother Filippo are serving multiple life sentences for their roles in the 1993 murder of anti-Mafia priest Pino Puglisi and a string of 1993 bombings which killed ten and injured dozens of others.
In Palermo, Sicily the police on Monday arrested Giuseppe Liga who allegedly took over the powerful Lo Piccolo clan after brothers Salvatore and Sandro Lo Piccolo were arrested in 2007 as reported by UPI:
Liga is charged with extortion, mafia conspiracy and setting up front companies. He was the alleged money man who handled revenue from "all the rackets" for the San Lorenzo-based clan, police said. "What we are seeing is the 'financialization' of the Mafia," said prosecutor Antonio Ingroia. "Ever more often we have found that command has been handed to figures who were once financial 'consultants' of bosses."
Liga, 59, is a stout, distinguished, well-known architect in Palermo with a range of local and national political connections. Since the '70's, he has secured various large construction contracts in Palermo including a high-profile residential complex. Gaining political clout, he led the national Catholic association Movement of Christian Workers from 1989 to 1997 and was head of its Sicilian chapter until he was suspended from his position earlier this month after news that he was being investigated for Mafia ties emerged. * * * The crime conglomerate is now in the hands of the Palermo-based clans who have been away doing a lucrative business in the US and have now returned to take control. These clans are now led by white-collar, educated workers who have a respected and highly visible role in the political and social life of the city. The new breed of clan bosses are now part of the financial, industrial and political elite of the city and have strong social links to the community.
And in separate actions the Italian police on Tuesday "arrested 12 people and seized 400 million euros worth of property assets in the Lazio and Campania regions" in connection with an investigation into the Mallardo clan from the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia, and "seized 6.5 million euros worth of property" in connection with an investigation into the Brancaccio clan from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia as reported by Adnkronos.
London firms act as fronts for drug-dealing and money-laundering and provide hideouts for fugitive gunmen. * * * [Mafia expert Francesco] Forgione said there was only one way of keeping Italian mobsters out of the UK. "Unless Britain and Europe introduce laws recognising the crime of Mafia membership, as we have done in Italy, and allow the seizure of assets at the moment of a mobster's arrest, the Mafia will always be one step ahead."
Italian police have arrested fugitive Sicilian Mafia boss Antonio Lo Nigro in Palmero who "had been on the run since January last year, and was included on a list of the hundred most dangerous mafia fugitives":
A major police operation last year that led to the arrest of more than 100 mafia suspects described Lo Nigro as the acting head of Palermo's Brancaccio mafia family. The head of Palermo's paramilitary Carabinieri police described Lo Nigro as a "heavyweight" who had been destined to reach the pinnacle of power within the Sicilian mafia.
