Italian nun arrested for suspected mafia-linked crimes

An Italian nun who won an award earlier this year for her voluntary work in prisons has been arrested on suspicion of being a mafia intermediary.

Anna Donelli, 57, who served as a counsellor at several prisons in and around Brescia, northern Italy, was detained on Thursday, according to the Italian media.

As part of a wider police operation, a further 24 people were detained in the clampdown for mafia-linked crimes including money laundering, drug trafficking and extortion. One of them was a former councillor for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.

At a press conference on Thursday, the prosecutor Francesco Prete said Donelli had acted as a go-between in prison for members of the Tripodi clan, who are part of the ’Ndrangheta, a powerful crime syndicate based in the southern region of Calabria.

“She carried orders, directives, moral and material aid to associates, receiving in turn from the prisoners useful information to better plan criminal strategies,” he said.

While intercepting his communications, investigators heard Stefano Tripodi, the head of the gang in Brescia, discuss Donelli’s role. “She is one of us,” he is alleged to have said.

Donelli, who used to referee football matches between prisoners, had wide-ranging prison access because of her spiritual role, according to prosecutors.

In February, the nun was one of the winners of the “Golden Panettone”, a civic award given in Milan.

As well as arresting 25 people, the police seized almost €2 million during a series of raids.