Italian prosecutors described the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan as an ""international holding ... a holding which secures certain services for the Sicilian Cosa Nostra as a whole: drug-trafficking routes and channels for money laundering."" The clan is ""a very tight knit family group of men-of-honour, not only joined by Mafia bonds, but also by ties of blood."" According to the Italian Antimafia Commission the Cuntrera-Caruana clan played a central role in international drug trafficking, extending their interests from Italy to Canada and Venezuela.