Forty-eight people were arrested in Italy on Thursday in a large anti-mafia operation that also involved a national political leader, according to prosecutors and local media, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
Coordinated by Catanzaro chief prosecutor Nicola Gratteri and carried out by some 370 officers from the country's various police forces, the investigation targeted powerful families of the 'Ndrangheta mob rooted in the southern Calabria region.
Thirteen people were brought to jail and another 35 put under house arrests, among them were several businesspeople, civil servants, and white collars, according to authorities.
The alleged mafia members involved belonged to the clans of Aracri, Arena, and Grande Aracri, all of them based in the province of Crotone.
All those arrested were charged variously with mafia association, collusion with mafia group, vote-buying, and other mafia-related crimes.