...

Italy: Police move to arrest five Naples mafia suspects

Other News Materials 18 June 2010 17:12 (UTC +04:00)
Police in Italy's southern Campania region on Friday moved to arrest five suspected members of the Naples mafia or Camorra.
Italy: Police move to arrest five Naples mafia suspects

Police in Italy's southern Campania region on Friday moved to arrest five suspected members of the Naples mafia or Camorra. The suspects allegedly belong to the Camorra's powerful Casalesi clan and are accused of mafia association, extortion and using violence to intimidate witnesses, AKI reported.

The suspects are alleged to belong the Casalesi clan faction headed by jailed Camorra boss Francesco Schiavone, known as "Sandokan".

Police on Tuesday arrested his son, Nicola Schiavone, 33, in a raid conducted at a secluded villa in the Casalesi stronghold of Casal al Principe in the province of Caserta, 40 kilometres north of Naples.

After the arrest of his father, Nicola Schiavone is believed to have become one of the senior leaders of the Casalesi clan.

Italian justice minister Angelino Alfano, described Schiavone's arrest as "very severe blow, also a psychological blow, to the Casalesi clan and the entire Camorra organisation."

Anti-mafia prosecutors from Naples issued an arrest warrant for Schiavone who has been wanted for murder for several months.

Nicknamed Sandokan after a popular 1970s television series, Francesco Sandokan was sentenced to life in prison in 2008, following an epic 10-year mafia trial - the Spartacus Trial - against 36 members of the Casalesi clan.

Latest

Latest