FBI swoop on Mafia families in New York

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) swooped on seven mob families in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island and arrested 130 people on Thursday on charges including murder, racketeering and extortion, federal law enforcement officials said.

The FBI operation began before dawn, and the targets ranged from reputed small-time book makers and crime-family functionaries to six reputed senior mob figures from three crime families, including the entire current leadership of the Colombo crime family, according to the authorities.

Among those charged were roughly 30 made members of New York’s five crime families and the families in New Jersey and New England, along with scores of mob associates and several union officials.

The arrests were announced by Attorney General Holder Jnr, at a news conference Thursday morning in Brooklyn, where the charges against roughly two-thirds of the defendants were lodged.

The arrests, including one expected in Italy, were based on 16 unrelated indictments handed up in federal courts in four jurisdictions. They amounted to the largest such sweep of organized crime figures conducted in recent history by federal authorities.

The New York Times reported Diego Rodriguez special agent in charge of the criminal division in the F.B.I.’s New York office, who said: “Early this morning, F.B.I. agents along with our law enforcement partners began arresting over 100 organized crime members for various criminal charges