39 arrested in Italy's major anti-mafia operations

Italian police arrested 39 people and seized assets worth some 10 million euros (10.8 million U.S. dollars) in two major anti-mafia operations on Tuesday, local reports said.

The first operation targeted alleged members of the Sicilian mafia, or Cosa Nostra, operating in an eastern neighbourhood of regional capital Palermo, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

The 39 people arrested were charged with mafia association, drug trafficking, extortion, and corruption.

According to prosecutors of the Anti-mafia District Directorate (DDA) in Palermo, the suspects were leading the cocaine trafficking in the area and had tried to infiltrate public contracts, including a major tender for renovation works to a local hospital.

Some 250 kg of cocaine were seized during the probe, investigators said.

Among those arrested were three alleged new bosses of the mafia clans involved, whose names were not immediately released by investigators.

In a separate operation near the southern city of Naples, the police targeted the properties of people allegedly linked to the Casalesi family, a most powerful clan within the local crime syndicate known as the Camorra.

Anti-mafia prosecutors issued three seizure warrants against a construction entrepreneur, a former member of the provincial council, and the sister of Michele Zagaria, a wanted Camorra boss who was arrested in December 2011.

Assets worth around 10 million euros were seized, investigators said.

The first phase of the investigation had resulted in the arrest of 24 people in January for allegedly rigging public contracts for the local public health service.

All of them were variously charged with mafia association, corruption, bid rigging, and abuse of authority aggravated by mafia methods.

Among those arrested in January were local politicians and public managers, including the director general of a major hospital in the city of Caserta, and the head of the local health agency.

Assets worth some 12 million euros (13 million U.S. dollars) were also seized at the time, including four companies, real estates and lands, and company shares. Endit