U.S., Italy in Mass Mafia Drug Arrests : 200 Charged in Joint Undercover Operation Aimed at Top Leaders

U.S. and Italian authorities announced today they have charged more than 200 people, including major figures in the Sicilian Mafia, in a joint undercover operation targeting international cocaine and heroin drug-trafficking rings in both countries.

Arrests were underway in Baltimore; Buffalo, N.Y.; Miami; Newark, N.J.; New York; Philadelphia; San Francisco, and Rockford, Ill. In Italy, arrests were being made in Palermo, Bologna and Florence.

Among the 75 people charged in the United States and 133 in Italy were some of the “top leaders” of organized crime, FBI Director William S. Sessions said.

An FBI spokesman, William Carter, said that, by midday, 52 people had been arrested in the United States and 22 in Italy.

Sessions said the arrests culminated a “long-term, undercover operation” that he said “builds strong cases against top leaders” of organized crime.

The FBI said it used court-authorized wiretaps, physical surveillance and heroin and cocaine buys to develop evidence leading to the arrests here and in Italy.

The Italian news agency AGI said the two-year investigation that led to the raids stemmed from the “Pizza Connection” international drug ring that sold $1.6-billion worth of heroin, mostly through pizzerias in the United States. A U.S. court convicted 18 people in connection with that ring, and Italian prosecutors indicted 28 people for their alleged involvement.

In a statement, the FBI said the operation developed from what originally were independent criminal investigations in Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia.

They grew into a coordinated probe when agents found links between many of the targets of the separate investigations.

The Buffalo case was initially designed to concentrate on drug-trafficking rings in the western New York area and was code named “Busico,” which stands for “Buffalo Sicilian Connection.”

It ultimately became tied to a probe in Philadelphia called the “Iron Tower” case, eventually requiring the cooperation of six FBI field offices, three Italian police agencies, other U.S. government agencies and overseas support of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Undercover FBI agents traveled to Italy to discuss major drug buys. Italian police inspectors worked with FBI agents on the investigation in New York and Philadelphia.

In Italy, the news agency ANSA said police were seeking at least 37 people there who were named in arrest warrants issued by anti-Mafia Magistrate Giovanne Falcone.