Nun arrested by Italian police in swoop on mafia suspects
A Catholic nun was among a group of 25 people arrested by Italian police on Thursday on suspicion of being part of a mafia network engaged in extortion and drug trafficking.
Prosecutors alleged that Sister Anna Donelli took advantage of her role as a prison volunteer to act as a contact between jailed members of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia and gang members on the outside.
The 57-year-old volunteered at San Vittore prison in Milan, and earlier won a civic award for her work in jails and some of the more deprived areas of the city earlier this year.
“On many occasions, she acted as an intermediary, taking advantage of her religious work, which allowed her full access to prisons,” investigators alleged.
In an intercepted phone call, one of the arrested people allegedly told a contact: “If you need something inside, she’s one of ours.”
Police allege that the 25 arrested people were part of an attempt by the ‘Ndrangheta to spread their criminal activities to the city of Brescia in the north, the wealthiest part of the country. They confiscated assets worth more than €1.8 million (£1.5 million).
The ‘Ndrangheta is based in Calabria, in the far south of Italy, but over the past few decades has established a presence not only in other parts of Italy but also across the world, from South America to Australia. Much of its power and wealth is based on cocaine trafficking.
The arrests and asset seizures were the culmination of a complex operation that began in 2020.
Police launched an investigation into an alleged ‘Ndrangheta clan that was originally from Sant’Eufemia d’Aspromonte, a village in the Aspromonte mountains of Calabria, but had become established in Brescia.
Those under arrest are accused of a range of crimes including mafia association, vote buying, illegal possession of weapons, money laundering, loan sharking, drug dealing and false invoicing, according to police.
They include two politicians, one of them a former councillor for Brothers of Italy, the Right-wing party led by Giorgia Meloni, who is the prime minister.
The other is a former member of the League, a party that is part of the national coalition government and led by Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister.
The alleged gang was connected to the issuance of €12 million worth of invoices for non-existent transactions that enabled complicit businesses to lower their income and thus evade taxes. In return, they allegedly paid a commission to the gang.
In November last year, more than 200 members of the mafia gang were sentenced to a total of 2,200 years in prison at the culmination of the country’s biggest trial for more than 30 years.
