Thirteen people arrested, 31 reported, over 73 thousand euros in administrative fines and a cash seizure of 22,825 euros. This is the balance of a major operation by the State Police, coordinated by the Central Operations Service, to counter criminal phenomena linked to some bangs of the Chinese community in Italy. The activity, conducted nationwide, involved 26 provinces including Milan, Rome, Florence, Prato, Bologna, Bergamo, Ancona, Verona and Catania, and was aimed at combating crimes related to illegal immigration, exploitation of prostitution and labor, counterfeiting, drug dealing and illegal possession of weapons. Among the phenomena that emerged during the investigation was the use of hawala, an informal, untraceable money transfer system that allows large sums of money to be moved from one continent to another outside official banking channels. A mechanism often exploited by criminal organizations to finance illicit activities and launder money. According to investigators, the criminal networks identified appear to consist of autonomous groups, often composed of people from the same region of China and, in several cases, belonging to the same family. The crimes were allegedly committed almost exclusively against fellow countrymen, fueling a closed system that is difficult to penetrate from the outside.