Italy’s economic crisis is hitting the Sicilian Mafia as well, say law enforcement officials in Palmero, Sicily.

A newspaper in Colombia has reported a drugs-for-guns arrangement involving the country's two main guerrilla organizations and the Russian Mafia, in a case which highlights both the close relationship between the rebels and increasing influence of European organized crime.

Italian police and the FBI have arrested 17 people in Italy and seven in the United States during an operation that authorities say dismantled a drug-trafficking group. The operation, dubbed New Bridge, involved collaboration between the Italian crime syndicate ‘Ndrangheta and the New York- based Gambino family of the Mafia.

Around US$540 million was seized in Tuesday’s sting targeting the Zaza clan of the Camorra organized crime group in Italy.

The whistle-blowing spirit behind Wikileaks has inspired the creation of a new website targeting organized crime.

Italian police have made more than 100 arrests in anti-Mafia operations in two regions of the country, Al Jazeera reports. 

One operation targeted the ‘Ndrangheta mob based in Calabria and the other took place in Rome, making it the largest Mafia bust in the capital. 

Europol will conduct an investigation into football match fixing by Russian organized crime groups, The Moscow Times reports.

In early February, Europol uncovered an Asian organized crime syndicate that operated a system of football match-fixing. The discovery has caused investigators to look into 680 football games around the world, 380 of them in Europe, and including the World Cup and European cup matches.

Anna Callaghan

Global warming. Climate change. Clean energy. Sustainability. Those topics have become buzzwords as the global community becomes more concerned with protecting the environment. 

Mobster Boris Petkov (middle) with a young Ivica Toncev (right).

By Stevan Dojčinović, Bojana Jovanović and Christoph Zotter

Story in Serbian language.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić’s national security advisor has maintained contact with major organized crime figures since before 2008 when he entered government.

An internal government intelligence report shows that Ivica Toncev’s ties to organized crime were known to the prime minister. Yet, despite that knowledge and warnings from diplomats of several major countries, Toncev gained in power and responsibility.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Center for Investigative Reporting in Serbia (CINS) was given access to a leaked report titled “Information on activities and contacts of Ivica Tončev” dating from mid-2012.

Daniele Ozzimo, a former member of the Rome city council, was sentenced yesterday with five others for their part in the ‘Mafia Capitale’ corruption scandal, according to Repubblica.