Italian businessman arrested in Brazil in mafia investigation

ROME (Reuters) – An Italian businessman has been arrested in the Brazilian city of Natal as part of an international investigation into a mafia network estimated to be worth 500 million euros ($550 million), Italian financial police said on Tuesday.

The man, named Giuseppe Bruno, is accused of, among other things, extortion, money laundering and external complicity in mafia connections, police said in a statement.

Brazilian police said the mafia scheme has invested around 55 million euros in Brazil in real estate and financial markets. According to Italian authorities, the total value of the invested assets could exceed 500 million euros.

The investigation found “traces of substantial investments of mafia-related capital in business enterprises and companies,” the statement said.

The investigation started in 2022 and involved Italian, Brazilian and Swiss police forces.

They led to the seizure of assets worth 50 million euros and to charges against 17 people and 12 real estate, construction and restoration companies in the three countries.

According to the police, money from Brazil has ended up in the pockets of important mafia families with ties to the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia, through a network in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore since 2016.

According to a statement from Brazilian police, the mafia network busted in Natal had been operating for almost a decade through front companies to hide money from international criminal activities.

($1 = 0.9151 euros)

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, Editing by Gavin Jones and Alison Williams)