Dozens of people have been detained by US and Italian authorities targeting an alleged Mafia-run transatlantic drug trafficking operation. The operation, codenamed "Old Bridge," saw arrests in and around New York and the Sicilian capital, Palermo. More than 50 members of the notorious Gambino family were held by FBI agents in New York City and its northern suburbs, New Jersey and Long Island. Police in Palermo said they hoped to bring in 25 to 30 suspects.
The FBI is said to have tracked suspects day and night, eavesdropping with sophisticated surveillance equipment.
One of those arrested in the raids in the US was Francesco Paolo Augusto Cali, of the New York Gambino family, known as "Franky Boy". He is allegedly the "ambassador" in the US of the Sicilian Mafia, the Cosa Nostra, tasked with improving relations between the various families.