Around 130 people were arrested on Tuesday in a large-scale sting against the Sicilian mafia in Palermo, indicating that it has remained a significant criminal force despite setbacks in recent decades.

Though mobsters terrorised Sicily for decades, harsh crackdowns in the 1990s and early 2000s seriously weakened the Cosa Nostra, with many of its top bosses dead or imprisoned and its once-tight grip over Sicilian society relaxed.

In the early 1990s crusading anti-mafia prosecutors were murdered as they tried to hit back. Then in 1993 the so-called boss of bosses, Salvatore "Toto" Riina, was arrested in Palermo, and in 2023 notorious mobster Matteo Messina Denaro was detained as he visited a local clinic.

The Italian government on Tuesday arrested no fewer than 130 people in a large-scale sting against the Sicilian mafia in Palermo. The fresh arrests indicate that the organization has remained a significant criminal force despite setbacks in recent decades.

Warrants were issued against a total of 183 people, 36 of whom were already in custody, for crimes including attempted murder, extortion and drug trafficking, police said.

Scores of people suspected of being affiliated with the resurgent mob were arrested Tuesday during overnight raids in Palermo and the surrounding area.

Those arrested in the major operation, involving 1,200 carabinieri, are accused of mafia-type criminal association, attempted murder, aggravated extortion with mafia methods, drug trafficking, use and possession of weapons,