Mafia killings accounted for one in five of all homicides in Italy in 2008, according to a recent study, a national news agency reported.
Ansa said a study by the Eurispes socioeconomic think-tank showed that of 106 mafia-related deaths that year, over half were at the hands of the violent Camorra crime syndicate in the Campania area around Naples.
"Around 29% of the killings were connected to the increasingly powerful 'Ndrangheta in Calabria, which is now considered the most insidious of Italy's mafias," the agency said.
"Some 24% of mob hits were attributed to the Cosa Nostra in Sicily while 20% were linked to the Sacra Corona Unita (United Sacred Crown) in Puglia."
According to a previous Eurispes study, the four mafias generated business equivalent to about 9% of GDP in 2008.
The Eurispes report confirmed an interior ministry estimate that 'Ndrangheta alone generates some 45 billion euros, or 3% of GDP, from its stranglehold on the European cocaine trade.
ROME, January 30 (RIA Novosti)
