MILAN, Italy, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A total of 40 people were arrested Thursday in Milan, Italy, in connection to an alleged scam involving funeral services, police say.
Milan police said the arrests were in relation to alleged bribes made to area nurses to inform a group immediately after a patient died in order to increase the funerary group's business, the Italian news agency, ANSA, reported.
"This criminal association formed a cartel to claim a stranglehold on the Milan funeral business,'' an unidentified police investigator said.
The alleged illicit activities may be taking places in other Italian locales as well, the Codacons consumer protection association has suggested.
The association told ANSA the alleged enterprise generated an estimated turnover of $4.7 billion a year, pushing funeral costs up by one-third.
