Police arrested 49 suspected mobsters in a raid on the outskirts of Milan on Tuesday, including five women, one of whom is accused of leading a local unit of the fearsome 'Ndrangheta mafia.
It's rare for women to have leadership roles in the male-dominated world of the mafia.
The woman, accused of ruling a 'Ndrangheta unit in Rho, a town on the outskirts of Milan, was "even more ruthless than the men", Milan prosecutor Alessandra Cerretti said in a news conference, according to local media.