Italian authorities have arrested 13 suspected members of Chinese mafia groups in a sweeping nationwide operation targeting drug trafficking, sex exploitation, and violent robbery. The raids, conducted across 25 provinces including Milan, Rome, Florence, Prato, and Catania, mark one of Italy’s largest crackdowns on Asian organized crime networks.
Police seized 550 grams of shabu crystal meth (approx. 5,500 doses) and flagged 31 additional suspects for prosecution, while inspecting hundreds of businesses and vehicles linked to the syndicates.
According to anti-mafia police official Andrea Olivadese, these gangs primarily prey on Chinese immigrant communities, using intimidation, revenge attacks, and territorial control tactics similar to traditional Italian mafias.
The arrests follow separate probes into labor abuses within Chinese-run workshops producing goods for luxury fashion houses. Prato, home to Europe’s largest Chinese diaspora community, has long struggled with undocumented worker exploitation—a crisis now intersecting with organized crime.
With these syndicates “deeply rooted” in immigrant enclaves, Italy’s crackdown signals escalating efforts to dismantle transnational crime networks before they gain further influence.
