rome —
Italian authorities on Monday found 3.2 million euros (about 360 million yen) hidden in walls, floors and furniture in a Naples apartment during a dawn raid in which 34 people were arrested.
Anti-Mafia law enforcement officials found cash in bundles of 50 euro bills at Caivano’s address, the Naples Carabinieri military police said in a statement to CNN.
The banknotes were wrapped in cellophane and neatly arranged on the floor, under wall tiles, in hidden drawers in wardrobes, removed in plastic mop buckets and placed in armored vehicles.
Police also found 11 luxury Rolex watches, along with weapons and drug sales paraphernalia, officials said at a news conference Monday.
The raid was part of a months-long sting led by Naples anti-Mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratelli, who announced on Monday that authorities had been wiretapping the cellphones of incarcerated mobsters smuggled into the prison by relatives.
“To demonstrate the importance of the operation, we seized 3.2 million euros in cash and a valuable watch in just one house,” he told reporters in Naples on Monday.
Police found $3.6 million inside an apartment wall
Italian police say they discovered $3.6 million hidden inside the walls of an apartment during an investigation into a suspected drug and extortion ring. Authorities claim the prison was run by a mob behind bars.
Authorities said they received a tip from an informant who provided evidence to prosecutors in exchange for protection.
Gratelli told CNN that those arrested are believed to be members of the notorious Angelino clan, which has infiltrated Caivano to the extent that the local government was placed under judicial control last year.
In 2023, Giorgia Meloni’s government introduced an urban renewal and crime prevention plan called the Caivano Model.
Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano said at a press conference in September 2023 that “the Caivano Decree aims to identify an intervention model that can be applied immediately to Caivano and then, when conditions are right, to other degraded areas in the country.”
“This is a module that takes into account not only the scourge of juvenile delinquency, but also offers positive alternatives to the streets and drug dealing,” Mantovano added.
After Monday’s arrest, several opposition politicians said the raid was a failure of planning. “For months we have witnessed a parade of prime ministers and ministers claiming a ‘purge’, but in our opinion it was actually portrayed as a decisive victory against organized crime. The reality that has emerged from the investigation is different,” said opposition lawmaker Francesco Borrelli of the Greens and Left Alliance.
The 34 people arrested are charged with mafia-related criminal association, drug trafficking, extortion and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, the Carabinieri said in a statement.
In addition to cash, guns and watches, authorities said they were able to uncover the gang’s modus operandi, which used what Gratteri called an “entrepreneurial” style of sending people to work at different times to carry out allegedly illegal activities such as drug dealing and extortion.
The recovered funds will be donated to the country’s Justice Fund, which supports victims of organized crime. But Mr. Gratteri’s department has faced government budget cuts in recent months, and he joked that some of that money should be used to cover further wiretaps.
“At some point, the minister wants to reduce wiretapping to save money. But today, with the 3.2 million euros discovered that will go directly to the Justice Fund, we have paid for a year’s worth of wiretapping in Naples alone. And we need to carry out several more operations like this,” he said.
