127 mafioso arrested in NY

FBI agents arrested 127 alleged mafia members in and around New York yesterday in a massive crackdown on the region’s infamous Cosa Nostra network, authorities said.

“It was very broad scope,” said New York federal court spokesman Robert Nardoza.

The arrests were made throughout New York and the New England area, with charges ranging from drug dealing to murder.

New York’s historic Five Families of Italian-American mobsters have seen a sharp decline in fortunes over the last decade as a result of court testimony from turncoats breaking the once impenetrable code of silence.

The New York Times, quoting unnamed sources, called it “the largest such sweep of organised crime figures ever conducted by federal authorities.”

According to the report, some suspects were charged with murders, others with racketeering, extortion, loan-sharking, gambling and labour-racketeering in the construction and dock workers’ industries.