Rome
CNN
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A Catholic nun with the Sisters of Charity Institute in Milan was amongst 25 folks arrested early Thursday morning for a litany of mafia-related crimes, together with aiding and abetting extortion, drug trafficking, receiving stolen items, usury, tax crimes and cash laundering.
Sister Anna Donelli, 57, was recognized amongst jail inmates as “Sister Collina” when she volunteered at a number of prisons in and round Brescia, a metropolis within the northern area of Lombardy, the place anti-mafia police stated she did extra than simply supply blessings and luxury.
She is accused of being an middleman, “exploiting the very non secular position she carried out” to cross messages and orders between bosses on the within and foot troopers tied to Italy’s infamous ’Ndrangheta organized crime syndicate based mostly in Calabria, within the south of the nation.
“She carried orders, directives, ethical and materials assist to associates, receiving in flip from the prisoners helpful info to higher plan prison methods,” based on prosecutor Francesco Prete throughout a press convention saying the arrests Thursday.
A complete of €1.8 million ($1.9 million) in money was sequestered within the operation carried out by 300 anti-mafia officers and particular police canine used to smell out medication and money in a number of places, which noticed 25 folks arrested in complete.
Weapons and medicines had been additionally recovered from places in Bergamo, Verona and Treviso.
A member of prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy celebration who’s a doctor was additionally arrested for treating accidents suffered by mobsters throughout mafia-related crimes to keep away from suspicion within the public well being system, based on the prosecutor.
Officially, Donelli labored as a liaison between jail officers and prisoners along with performing as a soccer referee throughout prisoners’ free time, based on an interview she gave the non secular information community TV2000 in 2020 about her work.
CNN has contacted the Sisters of Charity Institute in Milan, however has not acquired a response.
Prete stated that Donelli, who’s at the moment beneath home arrest, was “on the disposal of the prison affiliation to ensure the reference to the associates detained in jail and people exterior.”
