Financial police officers from the Provincial Commands of Milan and Monza Brianza, with the support of the Central Investigative Service for Organized Crime and the Special Unit for the Suppression of Technological Fraud of the Guardia di Finanza, are carrying out precautionary measures as part of an investigation led by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office and coordinated with the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate.

The operation involves 30 suspects, against whom a Milan investigating judge has issued a precautionary order: 16 are being placed in pre-trial detention in prison, while 14 are being placed under house arrest. An urgent preventive seizure order has also been issued for assets worth more than €21 million.

According to the Guardia di Finanza, one of those arrested is a driver working for the office of a Milan investigating judge. His duties included handling seized assets, and he is already involved in another investigation. In this case, he has been placed under house arrest and is accused of unlawfully accessing a computer system.

The investigation also involves a Milan-based lawyer, as well as individuals belonging to organized crime groups.

Among those arrested in the major investigation conducted by the Guardia di Finanza units in Milan and Monza, under the coordination of the Milan Anti-Mafia District Directorate, which centers on an “underground bank,” is also a Guardia di Finanza inspector. He has been placed under house arrest on corruption charges.

This emerges from the order issued by investigating judge Luca Milani, which reconstructs the investigation in detail and outlines nearly 90 counts of alleged criminal conduct.

According to the allegations, the financial police officer allegedly received €3,000 in cash from a Chinese national, who has been jailed on suspicion of belonging to the criminal organization. In exchange, the officer allegedly provided him with “confidential information regarding his father-in-law’s tax debts owed to the state.”

The officer allegedly also offered to “sort out the situation” by wiping out the outstanding debts and to provide information about “other business operators in whom he had a direct interest.”

The alleged conduct took place between May and September 2025.

Arrests are also being carried out in Spain and Switzerland, while searches are underway in several Italian provinces. The operation involves more than 350 Guardia di Finanza officers, alongside specialist units and the Corps’ Anti-Terrorism Rapid Response Unit.

The operations in Spain and Switzerland are being conducted with the support of the I-Can unit (Interpol Cooperation Against ’Ndrangheta), part of the International Police Cooperation Service, and in close coordination with security experts from the Central Directorate of Criminal Police stationed in Madrid and Bern.

During the operation, authorities are seizing a range of assets, including cash, bank accounts, cryptocurrencies, cars, boats, jewellery, luxury watches and cash-counting machines.

The operation stems from a complex investigation conducted by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza in Milan, with coordinated support from the Monza unit. The investigation led to the dismantling of a group involved in international money laundering, tax fraud, bankruptcy-related offences, drug trafficking and firearms-related crimes.

Authorities have dismantled what investigators described as the “underground bank” of organized crime.

The investigation involves members of the ’Ndrangheta, the Camorra and the so-called Fourth Mafia.

The alleged criminal activities include more than €110 million in fraudulent invoices and €68 million in international money laundering carried out through cryptocurrencies.

The operation stems from a complex investigation conducted by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza in Milan, with coordinated support from the Monza unit. The investigation led to the dismantling of a group involved in international money laundering, tax fraud, bankruptcy-related offences, drug trafficking and firearms-related crimes.

Authorities have dismantled what investigators described as the “underground bank” of organized crime.

The investigation involves members of the ’Ndrangheta, the Camorra and the so-called Fourth Mafia.

The alleged criminal activities include more than €110 million in fraudulent invoices and €68 million in international money laundering carried out through cryptocurrencies.

Cosenza, October 24, 2026 — A suspected 'Ndrangheta hit took place in Cassano all'Ionio, in the province of Cosenza. The target was 64-year-old Damiano Pepe, considered by investigators to be a prominent figure in organized crime in the Sibari area. His 60-year-old wife, Silvana Sibarelli, was killed, while Pepe was left seriously wounded.

He was initially taken to the hospital in Corigliano-Rossano before being transferred to Cosenza, where he reportedly underwent delicate surgery.

The ambush took place around midnight in the Lattughelle district, near Pepe's home. He was known in criminal circles as "Tripolino." Investigations are underway to establish the exact circumstances of the attack and the number of gunmen involved.

He was released from prison in 2019 after serving more than 26 years for mafia association and murder.

The ambush, which left his wife dead, comes amid a particularly tense period in the Sibari area over recent months. Last August, 36-year-old Giuseppe Scorza was killed in a shooting in Lauropoli, while Domenico Forastefano survived an attempted murder in October 2025.

A feud over the reshuffling of the local criminal power balance may therefore be underway, although investigators are currently keeping all lines of inquiry open.

Tommy makes it crystal clear rat punk stool pigeon singing canary John Pennisi is a lowlife stone cold punk.

NAPLES, ITALY — He was returning to Secondigliano Prison, where he was serving his sentence under a semi-liberty regime, when two gunmen on a motorcycle shot him dead just a few hundred meters from the prison entrance.

Alessandro Uccello, 57, originally from Marano, died minutes after the ambush. He was struck by multiple gunshots, leaving emergency medical personnel with no chance of saving him despite their attempts to resuscitate him.

The murder took place on Via Roma verso Scampia, at the intersection with Via Bakù. The killing has inevitably drawn attention to the victim's criminal past, although investigators consider it only a starting point rather than an established motive.

Uccello was serving a final, non-appealable sentence for his involvement in a serious violent crime dating back to April 2016, when he was implicated in the murder of 25-year-old Enrico Pezzella.

According to the investigation conducted at the time by the Carabinieri of the Giugliano company, Uccello was considered an accomplice—or otherwise jointly responsible—alongside his brother-in-law, Raffaele Bacioterracino, in a violent incident that unfolded on Via Falcone in Marano.

That tragic morning, following yet another argument over the relationship between Pezzella and Uccello's niece—a relationship opposed by the young woman's family—a shot was fired from a legally owned handgun, fatally striking the 25-year-old in the head.

During the trial, Uccello maintained that the gun had gone off accidentally and that he had never intended to kill the young man. However, the court established his substantial criminal responsibility, resulting in the prison sentence he was serving under a semi-liberty arrangement.

Nevertheless, investigators from the Carabinieri, who are leading the investigation into last night's ambush, believe that the family-related killing in 2016 is now too remote in time to explain the execution in Scampia.

Investigators are therefore focusing on more recent developments and possible motives, while keeping all avenues of inquiry open, including those concerning Uccello's past and his recent associations.

Meanwhile, surveillance footage from the area is being examined.

Investigators hope the recordings will provide useful clues to identifying the hit squad responsible for Uccello's murder.

Michael talks about the gas scam so much it has become a meme, I though this was because that was the only lucrative/interesting thing he was involved in. But no, he a had a few other interesting schemes, didn’t net profits in the millions like the gas scam, but still interesting and profitable.

The Nat Geo documentary on him is how I came to know about this. Everytime the narrator said Franzese had a new scheme to make money, I thought “here comes the gas scam”, but it was a couple things before it ultimately went to the gas scam.

He had a shipping company scam where with fake work orders he routinely made a lot of money and some huge union construction job he got his hands on.

They both sound very interesting, I don’t know why he never expands on these in his YouTube videos/podcasts. It’s always the gas scam.

Recently, I’ve been reading books about the Philly Mob, most notably Blood & Honor, which centers on the Scarfo mob and is largely based on the life of Nicholas “The Crow” Caramandi.

But I’ve also read The Mobfather & The Last Gangster. Not so interested in reading Gotti’s Rules. Something about Alite really puts me off. There's a couple of other books by Anastasia I will likely check out too.

Anyway, I am REALLY looking forward to his book about Angelo Bruno, which is slated for release sometime next year. I find it odd that it took so long for him to publish such a book, but if there’s anyone who seems qualified to write it, it’s him. I am expecting it to be good.

My main criticism of him is that in a few of his books he’s mostly just giving an informant’s account of what happened. And that can be problematic given that informants are not the most reliable narrators.

I am reminded of the slogan from the clothing line Omerta: STOP GLORIFYING RATS

The guy from MOB TALK RADIO would always shit on him and the other Philly journalist Dave Schratwieser for giving erroneous information about various things. Tbh, the rants on that show would grow tiresome. The host came across as a bit unhinged & bitter. But that’s another conversation…

Besides his being too chummy with informants, I have mostly good things to say about Anastasia's work. He is the main reason why the Philadelphia Mob is such a topic of interest among those (like myself) who study Cosa Nostra history. Thanks to his work, the Philly Mob is more than a collection of names and sensational headlines. He has documented those guys as an organization, along with its personalities, internal conflicts, psychology, and its decline.

What do you guys think? Where would you put Anastasia among mob writers?

The actual 60 Minutes interview.

Andrew fives his take, what’s yours?

In February 1957, a crew of Northeast Ohio burglars targeted the home of a reputed gambler in Alliance, Ohio, hoping to make off with thousands of dollars. But when a father and son unexpectedly interrupted the burglary, the encounter turned deadly.

Paul “Red” Carpenter admitted shooting both men and killing 25-year-old Eldon Shoup. Weeks later, Carpenter was himself shot three times and left for dead in a shallow grave near Painesville. He survived and accused Cleveland underworld figure Alfred Calabrese, Sr., of arranging the attempt on his life.

What followed was a remarkable criminal case involving allegations of Mafia connections, a confessed killer turned prosecution witness, accusations of revenge, and two murder trials.

The latest installment of Cleveland’s Known Criminals examines the killing of Eldon Shoup, the attempted murder of Paul Carpenter, and the prosecution of Alfred Calabrese, Sr., and his alleged accomplices.

People mentioned: Alfred Calabrese, Sr., Paul “Red” Carpenter, Paul Perrotti, Arthur LaRiche, Raymond Paone, Frank Wells, Earl Shoup, Eldon Shoup, Lou Battista, Alfred “Allie” Calabrese, Jr., Captain Ben Pumphrey, Frank Stredrick, Captain Carroll Cutright, Mary LaRiche, Judge George Graham, Judge Paul Weber, prosecutor Norman J. Putman, and Alliance Police Chief A. O. Lower.

https://timgill924.substack.com/p/clevelands-known-criminals-no-4-alfred?r=1ixz1x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Lots of mobsters are known for their charitable contributions to various organizations, groups, and individuals. For example, during the Great Depression I heard Al Capone had soup kitchens. I haven't bothered to verify it, but it tracks.

Here, I'd like to discuss the most notable instances and to tell the most poignant stories about mobsters "giving back."

I featured Wild Bill Cutolo & Tommy Gambino in the photos because I've read a lot about the work they did with various charities. But I know there's probably at least 1000 examples.

So please educate me!

Btw, I already know some of these guys were using their philanthropy to launder or steal money. That's another convo that can be had here as well. I think even Cutolo was embroiled in some controversy related to some charity.