Since 1969, 692 people have been kidnapped in Italy. Of those, 479 eventually were released by their captors, while 132 managed to escape on their own. Eighty have been murdered. More than 3,300 suspects have been arrested by police.
Some of the kidnappings are carried out by various mafia organizations, but most are the work of criminal bands not connected to the mafia, according to Italian police.
The Sicilian mafia, the Cosa Nostra, used to be heavily involved in kidnapping but made a decision in the 1970s to get out of the business because it drew too much police attention to its other, more lucrative activities.
"It is usually not so difficult to find the authors of these kidnappings," said Pierluigi Vigna, the "super prosecutor" who coordinates Italy's anti-mafia investigations.
The kidnap gangs tend to be large and cumbersome, often as many as 50 members, and they leave a messy trail, Vigna said.
"What is much more difficult," he said, "is to find the victim." Sometimes the hostages are sold from one criminal group to another so that even if the original band of abductors is caught, they may not know where the victim is hidden.
Calabria's rugged, nearly impenetrable Aspromonte mountains, thick with olive and chestnut forests, provide excellent hiding places.
