More than 100 people suspected of Mafia involvement in Italy were arrested Friday as police launched two separate operations near Rome and in the country's southern Calabria region, CNN reported.
Police made 51 arrests in the coastal city of Ostia near Rome. They were arrested for alleged crimes connected to the Sicilian Mafia, known as Cosa Nostra, police said in a statement.
An additional 65 people were detained in a separate operation in Calabria, where those arrested are suspected of links to the powerful 'Ndrangheta Mafia.
The operation in Ostia is one of the largest ever carried out against organized crime in the Rome area, a police news release said.
More than 500 police officers took part in the arrests.
Those involved in the alleged crimes include extortion, murder, nternational drug trafficking and illegally controlling the slot machine market and business activities related to the beaches in Italy.
Police say their operation on Friday will deliver a "mortal blow" to the Mafia's leadership.
Among those detained include Mafia boss Carmine Fasciani.
Members of another Mafia clan, Vincenzo Triassi and his wife, have been arrested on the Spanish island of Tenerife thanks to coordination with Interpol, another police statement said.
They are being held in a Spanish jail awaiting extradition proceedings, police said.
A host of businessman, politicians, lawyers, doctors and also members of the prison police were arrested in the second operation, reports said.
"We are particularly satisfied with the investigation," Rodolfo Ruperti, police chief of the city of Catanzaro, whose force carried out the Lamezia Terme operation, told CNN by telephone.
