Nun arrested over alleged links to powerful Italian Mafia network

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Police in Italy have arrested a nun and 24 other people as part of a four-year investigation into the country’s most powerful Mafia network.

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Sister Anna Donelli is suspected of being part of the ‘Ndrangheta, one of Europe’s most influential and dangerous criminal organizations.

She is accused of acting as a go-between for the Mafia and its members behind bars, Italian police said, according to the BBC.

The 57-year-old, who was arrested in a raid in the northern city of Brescia, volunteered in Milan’s San Vittore prison and was also known for her service in the city’s run-down areas.

Two local politicians were also nabbed, police said, and 1.8 million euros ($2.69 million) worth of assets were seized in the operation.

Statements released by the coalition of law enforcement agencies note Donelli leveraged her position as a volunteer, not to mention her unassuming role as a nun, which allowed her free access to the penitentiary facilities.

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As an intermediary, Donelli allegedly exploited “the very spiritual role she carried out” to pass messages and orders between bosses on the inside and gang members based in Calabria, in the country’s south.

“She carried orders, directives, moral and material aid to associates, receiving in turn from the prisoners useful information to better plan criminal strategies,” prosecutor Francesco Prete told reporters, according to CNN.

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Donelli, who is currently under house arrest, was a recipient of the Golden Panettone, a Milanese civic award.

The operation is ongoing, with police officers conducting searches across northern Italy.

Investigators allege the group primarily used scrap metal trade businesses as a front to launder money, totalling about 12 million euros ($18 million) in laundered cash.

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