Italian Police Arrest Alleged Mafia Members in Bread-Selling Scheme

Italian police have reportedly arrested 24 people in an operation
targeting the Lo Russo crime syndicate in connection with a scheme
to intimidate grocers and supermarkets in Naples into buying bread
at prices considerably higher than the market standard. The police
also seized three bakeries allegedly identified as Lo Russo-controlled.
The crime group reportedly forced merchants to buy the bread or risk
seeing their shops burned or damaged in other ways. Lieutenant Colonel
Giuseppe Furciniti, commander of the organized crime unit in Naples of
the national financial police corps, said the scheme was common for the
group, noting, “This time it was bread, other times it has been buffalo
mozzarella.” See Associated Press, June 27, 2016.

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