# Italy’s three biggest mafia clans form ‘Hydra’ alliance

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/italys-three-biggest-mafia-clans-form-hydra-alliance/
- Published: 2026-11-13T10:08:46+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-13T10:18:52+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16289541/Italys-three-biggest-mafia-clans-form-Hydra-alliance.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: Europe, World

## Key points

- Italy’s three biggest mafia groups are cooperating to pursue profits.
- Investigators link the alliance to drug trafficking and business investments.
- Trials in the case have involved 145 defendants.

## Summary

Investigators say Italy’s three largest mafia organisations have formed a cooperative alliance to expand their criminal activity in the country’s wealthy north. The arrangement matters because it brings groups that once competed into closer cooperation, allowing them to pursue profits while retaining their separate identities.

The alliance links the ’Ndrangheta, Camorra and Cosa Nostra, and reportedly works with Albanian and Chinese criminal networks, including to move money through hawala transfers. Investigations led to a trial involving 145 defendants: 62 were sentenced in January, while another 45 are on trial in Lombardy. Prosecutors say proceeds from drug trafficking are invested in businesses such as construction, waste disposal and supermarkets, and used to take over struggling firms through high-interest loans.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.