Italian police find $3.6 million in cash hidden in apartment’s walls, floors and furniture

Italian authorities found €3.2 million ($3.6 million) hidden in the walls, floors and furniture at an apartment in Naples on Monday, in a dawn raid that led to the arrests of 34 people.

Anti- mafia law enforcement officials found the cash in bundles of 50-euro notes at an address in Caivano, according to a statement from the Naples Carabinieri military police to CNN.

The banknotes, which were wrapped in cellophane and stacked in neat rows under floor and wall tiles and in hidden drawers in wardrobe closets, were carried out in plastic mop buckets and placed in an armored vehicle.

Police also found 11 luxury Rolex watches, along with weapons and drug selling paraphernalia, officials said at a press conference Monday.

The raid was part of a months-long sting operation led by Neapolitan anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who said on Monday that authorities had wire tapped the cellphones of incarcerated mobsters in prison, which had been smuggled in by relatives.

“To demonstrate the importance of the operation, in just one home, we seized €3.2 million in cash, as well as valuable watches,” he told reporters in Naples on Monday.

Authorities said they were tipped off by informants who gave evidence to prosecutors in exchange for protection.

Those arrested are allegedly part of the notorious Angelino clan, which had infiltrated Caivano to such an extent the local government was put under judicial administration last year, Gratteri told CNN.

In 2023, an urban regeneration and crime-prevention scheme called the “Caivano Model” was introduced by Giorgia Meloni’s government .

“The Caivano decree intends to identify a model of intervention that will apply immediately to Caivano and then, when conditions are right, to other degraded areas in the country,” Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano said at a press conference in September 2023.

“It is a module that takes into consideration not only the scourge of juvenile crime, but also the offer of something positive and alternative to the street, to drug dealing,” Mantovano added.

After Monday’s arrests, several opposition party members pointed to the raid as a failure of the initiative. Opposition parliamentarian Francesco Borrelli of the Greens and Left Alliance said: “For months we have witnessed the prime minister and her ministers’ parades, claiming a ‘clean up’ that, in our opinion, was actually portrayed as a definitive victory over organized crime. The reality that emerged from the investigation is different.”

The 34 people arrested are accused of mafia-style crime association, drug trafficking, extortion and possession of drugs for the purpose of dealing, according to the Carabinieri statement.

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In addition to the money, guns and watches, authorities say they were also able to uncover the methodology of the crime ring, which used what Gratteri called an “entrepreneurial” style, placing people on staggered shifts to carry out the alleged illegal activities, such as drug dealing and extortion.

The money that was retrieved will go to the country’s “Justice Fund,” which supports victims of organized crime. However, Gratteri, whose department has faced cuts from the government in recent months, joked that some of it should go to cover further wiretaps.

“I’m thinking of when the minister wants to reduce wiretaps to save money. But just today, with the €3.2 million found that will go directly to the Justice Fund, we’ve paid for a year’s worth of wiretaps in Naples alone. And we need to carry out several more operations like this,” he said.

周一清晨，意大利当局突袭了那不勒斯的一间公寓，在墙壁、地板和家具中发现了藏匿的 320 万欧元（360 万美元），并逮捕了 34 人。

据那不勒斯宪兵队向 CNN 发表的声明称，反黑手党执法人员在卡伊瓦诺的一个地址发现了成捆的 50 欧元钞票，这些现金就是其中的一部分。

这些钞票用玻璃纸包裹，整齐地堆放在地板和墙砖下以及衣柜壁橱的隐藏抽屉里，然后被装在塑料拖把桶里运出，并放入装甲车中。

警方还在周一的新闻发布会上表示，他们还查获了 11 块劳力士名表，以及武器和贩毒用具。

这次突袭行动是那不勒斯反黑手党检察官尼古拉·格拉特里领导的历时数月的秘密行动的一部分。格拉特里周一表示，当局对被监禁的黑帮成员的手机进行了窃听，这些手机是由他们的亲属偷偷带进监狱的。

“为了证明此次行动的重要性，我们仅在一处住宅内就查获了 320 万欧元现金以及名贵手表，”他周一在意大利那不勒斯告诉记者。

当局表示，他们是从线人那里得到消息的，这些线人向检察官提供了证据以换取保护。

格拉特里告诉 CNN，被捕者据称是臭名昭著的安吉利诺家族的成员，该家族已经渗透到卡伊瓦诺，以至于当地政府去年被置于司法管辖之下。

2023年，乔治亚·梅洛尼政府推出了一项名为“卡伊瓦诺模式”的城市复兴和犯罪预防计划。

“卡伊瓦诺法令旨在确定一种干预模式，该模式将立即适用于卡伊瓦诺，然后在条件合适时，适用于该国其他退化地区，”内阁秘书阿尔弗雷多·曼托瓦诺在 2023 年 9 月的新闻发布会上说。

曼托瓦诺补充说：“这个模块不仅考虑到了青少年犯罪的祸害，还提供了积极的替代方案，以取代街头生活和毒品交易。”

周一的逮捕行动后，几位反对党成员指出，这次突袭行动是打击有组织犯罪行动的失败。绿党和左翼联盟的反对党议员弗朗切斯科·博雷利表示：“几个月来，我们目睹了总理及其内阁成员的巡游，他们声称进行了一次‘清理’行动，在我们看来，这实际上被描绘成对有组织犯罪的彻底胜利。但调查结果却并非如此。”

据宪兵队声明，被捕的 34 人被指控参与黑手党式犯罪团伙、贩毒、敲诈勒索以及持有毒品用于贩卖。

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除了金钱、枪支和手表之外，当局表示，他们还发现了该犯罪团伙的作案手法，该团伙采用了格拉特里所说的“创业式”作案方式，安排人员错峰轮班进行所谓的非法活动，例如贩毒和敲诈勒索。

追回的款项将拨入该国的“司法基金”，该基金旨在帮助有组织犯罪的受害者。然而，格拉特里（Gratteri）开玩笑说，他所在的部门近几个月来一直面临政府预算削减，其中一部分应该用来支付进一步的窃听费用。

“我在想，部长什么时候会为了省钱而减少窃听。但就在今天，我们找到了320万欧元，将直接拨给司法基金，这笔钱足够支付那不勒斯一年的窃听费用。而且我们还需要开展更多类似的行动，”他说。