BIG MOB DRUG BUST! VH1 Reality Show "Mob Wives" To Blame? (VIDEO)

The FBI and Italian police say they have arrested two dozen suspects in connection with a transnational heroin- and cocaine-trafficking conspiracy linking Italy's 'ndrangheta syndicate with the notorious Gambino and Bonanno mafia crime families in the United States.

Nighttime raids carried out in southern Italy, the United States and Canada early Tuesday netted 24 people — including seven in New York: 'ndrangheta member Raffaele Valente, also known as “Lello”; Gambino associate Franco Lupoi; Bonanno associate Charles Centaro, also known as “Charlie Pepsi”; Dominic Ali; Alexander Chan; Christos Fasarakis; and Jose Alfredo Garcia, also known as “Freddy."

Using wiretaps and an undercover agent named "Jimmy," the FBI said it was able to infiltrate the Brooklyn-based mob and stop "a plot to transport 500 kilograms of cocaine, concealed in frozen food, in shipping containers from Guyana to Calabria."

Investigators estimated the street value of the cocaine after cutting would have been about 750 million euros, or $1 billion.

In Italy, 17 others were arrested in connection with the alleged drug ring. The massive joint operation targeted the breakup of a new trafficking route into the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro.

But we can't help to ask ourselves, if having reality shows like VH1's "Mob Wives" affects some of these investigations and arrests? 

Check out the CBS report below:





Mob Wives, Season 4 preview: