KEY POINTS:
Police in Italy and the FBI in New York have arrested dozens of alleged gangsters belonging to the most notorious Sicilian crime families in a closely co-ordinated international operation.
More than 80 alleged gang members were rounded up in New York and Palermo in what the head of Italy's parliamentary anti-Mafia commission described as "one of the most important operations of the past 10 years". Those arrested in New York included the entire Gambino family hierarchy, and important figures in the Genovese and Bonanno families, and union and construction industry officials.
The New York Times reported that the arrested men were expected to be charged with seven murders, including three which date back 25 years, as well as racketeering, extortion and gambling offences.
These were the first successes in a joint two-year operation. Italian sources say it is only the first battle in a new war against the old-time crime families, an operation they codenamed "Old Bridge".
Attilio Bolzoni, a Mafia expert with the Roman daily La Repubblica, said investigators "discovered a pact between the 'Sicilians' and the 'Americans' after more than 20 years of domination by the Corleone clan: an attempt to rebuild Cosa Nostra on its old foundations".
Those involved in the US had fled from Sicily during the war between the clans in the 1980s, from which the Corleonesi emerged triumphant. "They had all returned to their home base in Palermo and were ready to start over," Bolzoni said.
The key figure arrested yesterday, according to Italian sources, is Francesco Paolo Augusto Cali, known in New York as Frank or Franky Boy, the Sicilian-turned-American given the task of mending relations with the dominant families in the old country.
"Franky" is said to have been an accredited member of the Gambino family - a "man of honour", as the Italians put it, or "wise guy" in New York slang - for more than 10 years.
OPERATION OLD BRIDGE
* Dozens of alleged gangsters belonging to the most notorious Sicilian crime families have been arrested in a closely co-ordinated two-year international operation.
* More than 80 alleged suspects were rounded up in New York and Palermo.
* The arrested men are expected to be charged with seven murders, including three which date back 25 years, and racketeering, extortion and gambling offences.
- INDEPENDENT
