VIESTE – Judicial sources reported Wednesday that 15 people thought to be part of the Raduano criminal organisation have been arrested.

 12 are in prison and three under house arrest, with the total alleged crimes coming in at 240 accusations.  They are charged with criminal conspiracy aimed at trafficking and selling arms and drugs, and mafia association.

 Those arrested are alleged to be part of the Raduano gang in the town of Vieste, in Foggia province. 

 They were identified thanks to wiretapping by investigators in Bari, reports La Repubblica.  They found threats such as “We will have to play football with your head” to a pusher who broke clan rules. 

 It appears that the organisation includes people specifically tasked with punishing traffickers who did not follow such rules.

 The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation known as “Operation Snow of March” thanks to the large drug seizure made possible by the footprints of the traffickers in the snow. 

 Investigators have highlighted the use of special techniques in the operation, such as photo traps usually used for animals placed in areas often used for taking or moving drugs.

 The carabinieri investigations were coordinated by the prosecutors Ettore Cardinali, Giuseppe Gatti and Simona Filoni and the deputy Francesco Giannella. 

 The investigation had demonstrated, said Gatti, quoted in Il Fatto Quotidiano, the “extraordinary capacity for military control of the territory by the Gargano mafia,” and the “violence, the climate of terror that generates a condition of subjugation”.

 For drugs trafficking the group used “symbolic places of the social life of the city, schools, soccer fields, ice-skating posts, restaurants,” he continued, but with these latest arrests, “the Gomorrah season in those lands is definitely over.”

 He added that Vieste had “had an important awakening of civil conscience.”

 Vieste, a town of 13,000, is one of Puglia’s most important tourist destinations.  It has become a centre of criminal organisations due to the fight for control of extortion and drug trafficking from Albania following the death of boss Angelo Notarangelo, says Il Fatto Quotidiano, while the hard-to-patrol rocky coastline provides excellent opportunities to land large quantities of drugs.

 The rivalry between the Raduano and the Iannoli gangs has claimed the lives of 10 young people in the past four years, Il Fatto Quotidiano reports.