16 Judges Arrested In Billion-Dollar Mafia Bust

In a huge anti-mafia bust, 16 judges have been arrested near Naples, Italy, according to the BBC, for allegedly being in cahoots with Italy’s notorious Camorra crime syndicate.

Corriere della Sera reports that assets seized as part of the raid are worth more than $1.3 billion including financial assets, stock holdings, bank accounts, land, real estate and vehicles.

Police allege that the judges accepted bribes to rule in favor of the Camorra in financial cases, the Australian Broadcasting Company reports, and one judge is said to have worked as an accountant for the crime family.

AGI notes that 47 people have been arrested in all, with 22 in jail, 25 under house arrest and an additional 13 people banned from living in the province of Naples. Thus far police have not released names of people implicated in the raid.

The Camorra family gained infamy for its extortion and drug trafficking exploits, the BBC writes, but police investigations have shed light on the reach of its criminal activity in real estate, hotel management and the food industry. According to a BBC documentary from 2011, the Neapolitan crime family is responsible for more than3,000 deaths over the last three decades, operating as a pseudo-government that controls illicit drugs, business, politics and the garbage disposal industry.