Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando said the Sicilian capital is no longer the capital of the mafia and it now seeks to be known as the capital for migrant rights and welcoming. In recent weeks, Orlando has led a revolt of Italian mayors against the Salvini security decree.
The Italian authorities have arrested 15 individuals on charges of terrorism and aiding and abetting clandestine immigration to Italy. They allegedly belong to a criminal organization that offered journeys on fast dinghies from Tunisia to Sicily for 2,500 euros.
Some 15,000 people are involved in the practice of subjecting migrants to exploitation with 'gang masters' in Italy. The individuals are part of a hierarchy that goes from drivers up to the bosses and are linked to organized crime groups specializing in human trafficking.
Eleven shop owners who bravely took on their racketeers show that the southern Italian city's multiculturalism has had an impact on breaking down the traditional mafia methods. Ylenia Gostoli reports from Palermo.
The Italian authorities have asked for 108 people implicated in the probe into alleged mafia infiltration in the management of a migrant reception centre in the province of Crotone in Calabria will be sent to trial.
Real estate confiscated from Mafia will be used for migrant integration in the central Italian province Caserta. 22 million euros will be invested into the project by the municipality, the interior ministry and the regional government.
The mafia is using light, inflatable, Chinese-made plastic boats to traffic people, and hashish, between Morocco and Spain. The ability to smuggle more people, more quickly is putting pressure on the Spanish authorities.