China Tobacco’s factory in Panama was shut down by authorities after its cigarettes kept making their way onto the black market there. A network of companies sprang up in its place — and have been shipping huge numbers of cigarettes from Panama around the region.

China Tobacco is using advertising, investment, and social projects to influence governments and consumers around the world, while flooding markets in countries where its cigarettes cannot legally be sold — all methods "Big Tobacco" has employed for decades.

Italy’s plan to introduce a centralized agency to fight cybercrime is set to go ahead after the Council of Ministers passed a bill proposed by Prime Minister Mario Draghi and other high-ranking government officials to bolster cybersecurity.

Brazil’s Federal Police arrested on Monday one of Italy’s most-wanted mobsters, putting an end to a years-long international chase after Rocco Morabito, a prominent member of one of the world’s most powerful crime syndicates, the ‘Ndrangheta.

Police in Kosovo arrested seven people suspected of drug trafficking and seized over 400 kilograms of cocaine, authorities confirmed on Tuesday.

For the first time in its history, the Catholic Church beatified a judge, bringing late Sicilian magistrate Rosario Angelo Livatino closer to sainthood more than 30 years after the Sicilian mafia killed him in 1990.

Italian and German law enforcement agencies arrested 31 suspected members of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia in a joint operation assisted by Eurojust and Europol, the European police agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

Italian authorities ordered on Tuesday the preventive detention of 15 suspected members of an international gang believed to have imported cocaine from South America in cooperation with the ‘Ndrangheta, one of Italy’s four major mafia groups.

Italian organized criminal groups have infiltrated the country’s robust tourism sector to the tune of US$2.6 billion in 2020, a recent report by Italian think tank Demoskopika, revealed. The groups take control over legitimate businesses in order to launder revenue from illegitimate enterprises like drug and arms trafficking, experts say.

The Italian mafia is no longer just a violent gang running local rackets and smuggling drugs, but has mastered complex financial operations that can impact the country’s economy, experts said following a massive bust of money laundering operations run by several Italian mafia groups. 

Italian authoritiessaid they have arrested a 40-year-old man who allegedly hired a hitman on the dark web to cause life-changing injuries to his ex-girlfriend who had left him.

During his traditional public Angelus prayer address on Sunday, Pope Francis spoke out against organized crime and its use of the COVID-19 pandemic to enrich itself.

Italian authorities announced on Wednesday the seizure of over 80 million euros (US$95.8 million) in assets and restriction orders against 23 people allegedly linked to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra for involvement in illegal gambling, aggravated fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

Romanian Police uncovered and dismantled Monday a suspected human smuggling organization believed to have tried to smuggle 30 illegal migrants further into the EU from Romania, according to a Europolpress release.

Italy’s four traditional mafias, along with their newer and smaller counterparts, are increasingly uniting during various criminal ventures to form one cohesive group, an Italian anti-mafia prosecutor said in an interview published on Monday.

Luxembourg’s company registry turns up firms controlled by people with ties to the ’Ndrangheta. Italian authorities say the country’s secrecy makes it a major draw for the powerful organized crime group.

Italian authorities detained on Tuesday 20 suspected members of three distinct mafia clans operating in the Naples area. Police said they believe the suspects trafficked hashish to Malta and cocaine to Italy.

After an Italian operation arrested dozens of alleged ‘Ndrangheta members last week, Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, said the mafia group had tried to use his country as a money laundering base but without success. 

A court in Milansentenced on Monday former Italian deputy and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Luca Volontè, to four years in prison for taking bribes from Azerbaijani politicians to help mute the Europe’s criticism of Baku’s human rights record.

In Italy’s southern region of Calabria, a court had to requisition a local call center to make room for 355 defendants, 900 witnesses and 700 lawyers in what will be the largest mafia trial the country has seen in nearly three decades, AFP reported.