34 arrested as carabinieri strike at clan accused of running extortion and drug trafficking rackets in Caivano and Casoria.Italian police have seized more than €3 million in cash hidden inside the walls of a flat in Caivano, near Naples, as part of a major operation against a Camorra clan operating in the area.Carabinieri carried out the raid on Monday, executing a pre-trial detention order against 34 people, 23 of whom were taken into custody and 11 placed under house arrest, in an investigation coordinated by the Naples anti-mafia prosecutor's office (DDA).Those targeted are accused of belonging to an armed Camorra-style criminal association, drug trafficking, extortion and drug dealing, with the aggravating circumstance of mafia-style methods. Investigators say the group, identified as the Angelino clan, had shifted its base of operations from the Parco Verde estate to the nearby Bronx area of Caivano, with some drug-dealing activity spreading into neighbouring Casoria.During searches, officers found roughly €3.2 million in cash carefully wrapped in cellophane and concealed within the walls of an apartment in Caivano, along with 11 luxury watches. The banknotes, all €50 notes, were removed from the property in plastic buckets.Speaking at a press conference, Naples chief prosecutor Nicola Gratteri said the seized funds would be paid into Italy's central justice fund, joking that the sum had effectively "paid for a year's worth of wiretaps". He also voiced concern that shopkeepers in the area had reportedly been subjected to systematic extortion three times a year, at Christmas, Easter and mid-August, with only one victim coming forward to report it. Provincial carabinieri commander General Biagio Storniolo appealed to residents to break the "culture of silence" and report extortion to the authorities.The operation has reignited political debate over the so-called Caivano model, the government's flagship programme to tackle crime and deprivation in the town, which was placed under special administration for mafia infiltration in October 2023. Prominent opposition MP Francesco Borrelli, of the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS), said the raid showed that claims of the area having been "cleaned up" amounted to "propaganda", arguing that the reality on the ground told a different story to the government's public appearances there.

Italian police have seized more than €3 million in cash hidden inside the walls of a flat in Caivano, near Naples, as part of a major operation against a Camorra clan operating in the area. Carabinieri carried out the raid on Monday, executing a pre-trial detention order against 34 people, 23 of whom were taken into custody and 11 placed under house arrest, in an investigation coordinated by the Naples anti-mafia prosecutor's office (DDA).

Those targeted are accused of belonging to an armed Camorra-style criminal association, drug trafficking, extortion and drug dealing, with the aggravating circumstance of mafia-style methods. Investigators say the group, identified as the Angelino clan, had shifted its base of operations from the Parco Verde estate to the nearby Bronx area of Caivano, with some drug-dealing activity spreading into neighbouring Casoria.

During searches, officers found roughly €3.2 million in cash carefully wrapped in cellophane and concealed within the walls of an apartment in Caivano, along with 11 luxury watches. The banknotes, all €50 notes, were removed from the property in plastic buckets.

Speaking at a press conference, Naples chief prosecutor Nicola Gratteri said the seized funds would be paid into Italy's central justice fund, joking that the sum had effectively "paid for a year's worth of wiretaps". He also voiced concern that shopkeepers in the area had reportedly been subjected to systematic extortion three times a year, at Christmas, Easter and mid-August, with only one victim coming forward to report it. Provincial carabinieri commander General Biagio Storniolo appealed to residents to break the "culture of silence" and report extortion to the authorities.

The operation has reignited political debate over the so-called, the government's flagship programme to tackle crime and deprivation in the town, which was placed under special administration for mafia infiltration in October 2023. Prominent opposition MP Francesco Borrelli, of the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS), said the raid showed that claims of the area having been "cleaned up" amounted to "propaganda", arguing that the reality on the ground told a different story to the government's public appearances there.