International mafia bust shows US-Italy crime links still strong

Their names could have been ripped from the kind of Hollywood mafia script that once dominated US cinema.

But when an indictment dropped on Wednesday, Joseph "Joe Brooklyn" Lanni, Angelo "Fifi" Gradilone, and sco "Uncle Ciccio" Vicar were instead the faces of the justice department's latest attack on the notorious Gambino crime family in New York.

Charging documents filed by prosecutors used wiretaps, secret recordings and surveillance footage to lay out evidence against the men, accusing them of conspiracy to use violence and extortion to commit fraud and retaliate against witnesses.

However, as the initial excitement waned, experts observed that the latest round-up - which snared 16 alleged mafia - was unlikely to have a major effect on criminal operations.

Instead, the real twist revealed by the documents was the ongoing and close relationship between the New York based mafia, and its progenitor in Sicily - where six of the suspects were detained.

Italian officials said the arrests demonstrated "the solidity of the existing relationship" between American and Sicilian gangsters.

Among those arrested were a father in Palermo and his New Jersey-based son.

Two of those arrested in the US were described as American-based of the Sicilian Mafia, while at least one of the men arrested in Italy is believed to spend time in the US.

Similar raids in 2019 and 2020 also targeted people who led a "dual life" between the US and Italy, said criminology professor Anna Sergi, who has written several books about modern organised crime.

She told the BBC that the Italian gangsters consider New York to be a "gym" where their go to be toughened up.

The usefulness of the recruits though, appears to vary.

In one intercepted discussion, US-based Sicilian sco "Uncle Ciccio" Vicari vented his frustrations about his American companions to sco Rappa back in Sicily.

"I'm 60 years old. I told them, and now they want me to do deliveries":[]}