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.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has rejected accusations that it covered up a report critical of Italy’s COVID-19 response, despite warnings from one of the authors that burying it could cause a “scandal of huge proportion” that would damage the agency’s credibility.

In July this year, senators in Rome received a letter from the local head of tobacco company Philip Morris, containing what he promised was “very important news for Italy.”

During a three months-long operation targetingdark web marketplaces, Europol and law enforcement agencies from Italy, Hungary and the U.K. analyzed 90,000 pieces of credit card data and prevented nearly €40 million (US$47.7 million) in losses.

Right-wing politicians and operatives with ties to Italy’s Lega Nord party said they will ask a commission regulating the work of public broadcaster RAI to ban it from collaborating with international colleagues whose data helped it expose the party for corrupt COVID-related procurement dealings.

In a sweeping operation in two Italian cities, police arrested 74 members of the Nigerian mafia, including the alleged leader, 50-year-old Emmanuel “Boogye” Okenwe, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. 

Italy’s Guardia Di Finanza arrested 19 alleged members of the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime group Friday in the Italian town of Trento. At the same time, in the ‘Ndrangheta’s native region of Calabria,a former police officer named Seby Vecchio was arrested for collaborating with the group, according to the Italian daily, ANSA.

Romanian police uncovered a number of rare books, including first editions of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton from the 16th and 17th century as well as other priceless historical antiques, that were stolen in 2017 from a warehouse in west London’s Feltham,Europol said on Friday.

Hundreds of French, Beligian and Italian law enforcement officers arrested dozens of suspected mafia members in two separate operations executed on Tuesday in cooperation with Europol. 

Police in Indonesia arrested three suspected members of an international crime syndicate that tricked an Italian company into paying 3.67 million euro (US$4.33 million) for non-existent medical equipment,Interpol said Tuesday.

Albanian authorities said on Monday that they have seized the assets of a media mogul whose wealth is believed to have come from drug trafficking in Turkey and Italy.

A Chinese gang is using guns, threats, and fear to corner the market for transporting Chinese-made goods in Europe.