The six Italians who were taken to a Maltese court of law and charged with association in organised crime were flown to Italy on Friday.

The six had consented to their extradition when they were arraigned last week. They were flown back to Italian on an Italian military aircraft to Reggio where they were kept in police custody.

The five men and one woman are Alessandro Ciaffi, 40, from Rome, Fortunato Stracuzzi, 37, from Messina, Mario Gennaro, 39, Francesco Ripepi 38 and his brother Rocco Ripepi, all from Reggio Calabria and Margerita Simona Gibetti, 34 from Bari.

Lawyer Joe Giglio, who appeared for the Italians along with Stephen Tonna Lowell, said The six were consenting to their extradition in order to be able to help the Italian investigation and prove that they had nothing to do with the allegations levelled against them.

Six gaming companies registered in Malta had their assets seized as part of a clamp-down by Italian police on illegal gaming activities and money laundering linked the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta'.

The Italian police have seized assets worth €2 billion and issued 41 arrest warrants in raids on gambling companies in Italy and abroad run by the 'Ndrangheta mafia organisation.

Police believe the firms were used to launder vast sums of illicit cash.