Rome
The Gentleman Report
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A Catholic nun with the Sisters of Charity Institute in Milan was once amongst 25 other folks arrested early Thursday morning for a litany of mafia-related crimes, together with helping and abetting extortion, drug trafficking, receiving stolen items, usury, tax crimes and cash laundering.
Sister Anna Donelli, 57, was once identified amongst jail inmates as “Sister Collina” when she volunteered at a number of prisons in and round Brescia, a town within the northern area of Lombardy, the place anti-mafia police mentioned she did extra than simply be offering blessings and luxury.
She is accused of being an middleman, “exploiting the very non secular position she performed” to move messages and orders between bosses at the within and foot infantrymen tied to Italy’s infamous ’Ndrangheta arranged crime syndicate primarily based in Calabria, within the south of the rustic.
“She carried orders, directives, ethical and subject matter help to buddies, receiving in flip from the prisoners helpful data to raised plan felony methods,” in keeping with prosecutor Francesco Prete all the way through a press convention pronouncing the arrests Thursday.
A complete of €1.8 million ($1.9 million) in money was once sequestered within the operation performed through 300 anti-mafia officials and particular police canines used to smell out medicine and money in different places, which noticed 25 other folks arrested in overall.
Guns and medication have been additionally recovered from places in Bergamo, Verona and Treviso.
A member of high minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy birthday party who’s a doctor was once additionally arrested for treating accidents suffered through mobsters all the way through mafia-related crimes to keep away from suspicion within the public well being gadget, in keeping with the prosecutor.
Formally, Donelli labored as a liaison between jail officers and prisoners along with performing as a football referee all the way through prisoners’ unfastened time, in keeping with an interview she gave the spiritual information community TV2000 in 2020 about her paintings.
The Gentleman Report has contacted the Sisters of Charity Institute in Milan, however has no longer won a reaction.
Prete mentioned that Donelli, who’s lately below area arrest, was once “on the disposal of the felony affiliation to ensure the relationship with the buddies detained in jail and the ones outdoor.”
