Italian police arrest nearly 200 mafia goons in major organized crime bust

Though the Mafia has become sort of a cultural meme over the last 100 years, in Italy it's no joke — it's a deplorable crime syndicate run by scumbags who victimize innocent people all the time.

So you love to see these guys finally get their comeuppance:

Italian police officers on Tuesday arrested 181 people believed to be affiliated with the Cosa Nostra, as the Sicilian mafia is known, dealing what officials said was an "important blow" to a criminal organization that has held the region in its grip for generations.
Tuesday's arrests were carried out in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, and neighboring towns, and involved about 1,200 Carabinieri officers. Video released by the police showed hundreds of officers waiting for orders to enter homes as helicopters patrolled the skies during overnight raids. The arrests, which came after two years of investigations, covered a range of charges, including mafia affiliation, drug trafficking, extortion and attempted murder.

Footage showed these cops rocking and rolling:

You gotta love it — no fancy mansions, no private jets, just crooks hiding out in run-down old Sicilian villas:

The mafia had resurged in Sicily in part because previously warring factions "had opted, for now, to set aside differences to achieve a common goal: making money."

The busts this week took "many youths," which police said point to the fact that the Mafia "continues to exert its appeal in certain environments like suburbs where young people have limited life alternatives and identify with representations of power that the mafia still enjoys."

The crime clan maintains an iron grip on business in the region:

As in decades past, they demand "pizzo", or protection money, from businesses, and force traders to use their products, often at inflated prices.
In one example, investigators revealed how a clan took control of distributing mussels and other seafood to restaurants in two seaside villages.