Human rights groups and some Colombian political leaders say that the paramilitaries are evolving into a Mafia-like organization that depends on the cocaine trade.

He was chief of foreign-currency dealings and used his position to build what prosecutors described as a "Mafia-like organization" that included illegal arms exports and the supply of luxurious houses to his associates and relatives.

So while the government declares that peace is on the way, the report says, the fighters are focused on laundering drug money and building a Mafia-like organization rooted in corruption and cocaine trafficking.

The Inspector General was prosecuted for corruption, and the Facilities Protective Service (FPS) commander was dismissed for running a Mafia-like organization, contributing weapons and manpower to terrorist and other gangs.

Two other men, Ernesto Diotallevi (one of the leaders of the Banda della Magliana, a Roman Mafia-like organization) and former Mafia member turned informer Francesco Di Carlo, were also alleged to be involved in the killing.

Army officers said today that they had known for months that the informant was an important player in Mr. Hussein's Mafia-like organization.

He told Whitney that he wanted her to take his place as leader of the Maggia, a Mafia-like organization running the East Coast of the United States.

The traffickers belong to a Mafia-like criminal organisation and control several links in the network that has power over the victim.

Sacra Corona Unita, (SCU) or United Sacred Crown, is a Mafia-like criminal organization from Apulia (in Italian Puglia) region in Southern Italy, and is especially active in the areas of Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto .

Overall, more than 1,000 would later be indicted for the crime of association with a "Mafia-like organization" called the Nuova Camorra Organizzata.