Italian authorities found €3.2 million ($3.6 million) hidden in the walls, floors and furniture at an apartment in Naples on Monday, in a dawn raid that led to the arrests of 34 people.
Anti-mafia law enforcement officials found the cash in bundles of 50-euro notes at an address in Caivano, according to a statement from the Naples Carabinieri military police to CNN.
The banknotes, which were wrapped in cellophane and stacked in neat rows under floor and wall tiles and in hidden drawers in wardrobe closets, were carried out in plastic mop buckets and placed in an armored vehicle.
Police also found 11 luxury Rolex watches, along with weapons and drug selling paraphernalia, officials said at a press conference Monday. The raid was part of a months-long sting operation led by Neapolitan anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who said on Monday that authorities had wire tapped the cellphones of incarcerated mobsters in prison, which had been smuggled in by relatives.
“To demonstrate the importance of the operation, in just one home, we seized €3.2 million in cash, as well as valuable watches,” he told reporters in Naples on Monday.
Credit: cnn.com
