More than 120 busted in Northeast Mafia crackdown

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities orchestrated one of the biggest Mafia takedowns in FBI history today, charging 127 suspected mobsters and associates in the Northeast with murders, extortion and other crimes spanning decades.

Past investigations have resulted in strategic strikes aimed at crippling individual crime families. This time, authorities used a shotgun approach, with some 800 federal agents and police officers making scores of simultaneous arrests stemming from different mob investigations in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

They also used fanfare: Attorney General Eric Holder made a trip to New York to announce the operation at a news conference with the city’s top law enforcement officials.

As of late today, 125 had been arrested, including four who were already behind bars.

Holder called the arrests “an important and encouraging step forward in disrupting La Cosa Nostra’s operations.” But he and others also cautioned that the mob, while having lost some of the swagger of the John Gotti era, is known for adapting to adversity and finding new ways of making money and spreading violence.

If convicted, the defendants face a wide range of maximum sentences, including life in prison.