Pero is a quiet town on the edge of Milan. It had a car-rental business. According to Italy's financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, renting cars was the least of what it did.
On 21 October 2026, more than 350 officers moved in on orders from Milan's anti-mafia prosecutors. Thirty people were arrested, in Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
How the alleged scheme worked
Picture a laundromat, but for money, with invoices.
Companies that existed only on paper sent bills for work nobody ever did, more than €110 million of it. Real firms paid those bills by bank transfer, which also lowered their taxes. Then the “bank” gave them the same money back in cash, delivered by couriers, keeping a 2–5% fee. That cash, investigators say, came from tax evasion and drugs.
The money in the accounts then went abroad, through Luxembourg, Lithuania and Germany, or into cryptocurrency. About €68 million travelled this way.
The cast
Investigators say the core was three Italians: two with long ties to 'Ndrangheta clans from Calabria, and one from the Casalesi clan of the Camorra near Naples. The network is also accused of supplying weapons and cars to the Società Foggiana from Puglia, known as the “Fourth Mafia”.
And the twist: one of those arrested worked as a driver at a Milan court office that handles seized assets. Talk about knowing the way to work.
What was seized
More than €21 million: cash, accounts, crypto, cars, boats, jewellery, luxury watches and banknote-counting machines. Charges include money laundering, tax fraud, drug trafficking and weapons offences.
Remember
These are investigators' allegations. Nobody has been convicted, and everyone is innocent until a court says otherwise. We'll follow it all the way to trial. Meanwhile, if you need a car in Milan, maybe just take the tram.