Guardia di Finanza officers from Milan and Monza Brianza have dismantled what investigators call a 'banca occulta', a hidden financial network serving organized crime. The operation is being carried out on 21 October under a precautionary order from a Milan preliminary investigations judge, at the request of the anti-mafia prosecutors (DDA) and in coordination with the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate. The probe grew out of an economic and financial police investigation in Milan, supported by the Monza unit. Investigators allege an association that used the mafia method and dealt in international money laundering, tax fraud, bankruptcy offences, drug trafficking and weapons offences. Reports describe the network as combining false invoicing with cross-border movements of money.
Investigators say the network produced over 110 million euro in false invoices. Separately, about 68 million euro was laundered internationally through cryptocurrencies, which investigators treat as a central part of the scheme. Seizures totalling over 21 million euro are being carried out alongside the arrests, covering cash, bank accounts, cryptocurrency, cars, boats, jewellery, luxury watches and money-counting machines. Investigators are reconstructing the financial flows, and Fanpage reports that they believe the seized goods may have been bought with the proceeds of the illegal activity.
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Thirty people are under investigation, with 16 ordered into prison and 14 placed under house arrest. Investigators link the suspects to 'ndrangheta, camorra and the so-called Quarta mafia, the organized crime group from Foggia. Among those arrested is Domenico Bruno, a driver at the Milan GIP's office who handled seized assets. He has been placed under house arrest and is accused of unauthorised access to a computer system, and he is also involved in a separate investigation. A Milan lawyer is implicated in the inquiry alongside other people belonging to organized crime. Fanpage reports that in the other probe Bruno is accused of seeking the release of 989,000 euro in money confiscated a few days earlier.
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Arrests are also under way in Spain and Switzerland, with searches across several Italian provinces. More than 350 Guardia di Finanza personnel are involved, supported by specialist units and the Antiterrorism Pronto Impiego component of the force. The operations in Spain and Switzerland are supported by the I-CAN unit of Interpol, which focuses on cooperation against the 'ndrangheta. That unit works with security experts of the Central Directorate of Criminal Police, who are stationed in Madrid and Bern. The reports do not give a separate figure for the number of arrests made abroad.
The details were published the morning of the operation, and the arrests in Spain and Switzerland were still in progress at the time. The reports do not yet include statements from the suspects or their lawyers. They also do not say when the cases will reach court or how the seized assets will be handled.
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Investigators in Milan and Monza say the network produced over 110 million euro in false invoices and laundered 68 million euro through cryptocurrencies. Arrests are also under way in Spain and Switzerland.
AI text based on reports by Il Sole 24 ORE, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Fanpage and other publishers. Published .