A two-year investigation culminated this week with 90 arrests, splitting wide open a mafia coalition that trafficked drugs to Europe from across the world. Here’s how the clans ran it.

Masked police stand in an ice parlor in Duisburg, western Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018 as authorities conduct coordinated raids in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands in a crackdown on the Italian mafia. (Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP)

Said, a young Somalian man, left his home in 2015 to escape recruitment by jihadist group al-Shabab. After journeying for nearly a year — during which he was tortured in a Libyan slave camp, saw many of his fellow travellers die, and crossed the Mediterranean in a rubber boat — he finally made it to Belgium. This is his story.

Rescued male migrants are brought to southern Italian ports, 28 June 2015; LE Eithne Operations 28 June 2015.

Heaven and the Underworld Meet at a Catholic festival in the mountains of Calabria.

Festival of the Madonna di Polsi by Antonio Lemma

A series of border closures by the southeastern member states of the European Union have made criminal smuggling networks the only option for migrants and refugees traveling through the Balkans —forcing them to pay thousands only to be left stranded, penniless, and treated like outlaws.

An Afghan woman stuck in the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac on her way to western Europe.

Millions fill the streets of Rio de Janeiro every February to dance the smooth samba rhythms and watch the giant floats and brightly-costumed performers celebrate the nation’s strengths and mock its shortcomings.

Beija-Flor's winning float: a rat pulling the Petrobras HQ (Photo: AFP)