May 24 2008
New measures to hunt Italian mafia
Italy marked the 16th anniversary of the murder of anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone Friday by announcing stronger powers for prosecutors and new measures to confiscate mafia assets.
The anniversary also coincided with the arrest in southern Italy of what is believed to be a major mafioso sought in connection with the vendetta murder of six Italian victims in Germany last year.
Falcone, investigating Mafia crime in Sicily, was killed in 1992 together with his wife when half a tonne of explosive blew apart their car and one carrying their security detail.
The assassination near Palermo shocked the nation.
Committing the government to an intensified struggle against the mafia, Justice Minister Angelino Alfano said in Sicily the national prosecutor’s office leading mafia investigations would soon receive stronger powers.
He also announced new measures to make it easier to confiscate mafioso assets. Regional government officers in Italy would in future have powers to reallocate assets confiscated from mafia members.
Investigations of mafia front figures known as “men of straw” would also be stepped up, the minister promised, confirming announcements on Wednesday by the new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi following a cabinet meeting in Naples.
Existing legislation has already enabled the state to seize assets the equivalent of 41 million euros ($A67.5 million) from the mafia during 2006 and 2007, according to reports.
“Young Sicilians are today no longer afraid of the Mafia and believe it is possible to beat it,” said Alfone, addressing listeners gathered at a Palermo prison to debate the issue.
This jail was the scene of a major trial of mafiosi which wound up investigations initiated by the two slain magistrates, Falcone and Paolo Borsellini.
The state has had success in recent months with mafia arrests, including that of the major figure Bernardo Provenzano, as more and more business people are prepared to come forward and testify against intimidation by racketeers.
The anniversary of Falcone’s death coincided with the arrest of a major suspect, 68 year-old Giuseppe Nirta, who has mafia connections in Calabria in southern Italy, the Carabinieri police force announced.
Nirta, on a list of Italy’s 100 most wanted persons, was being sought in connection with the vendetta killing of six Italians in Duisburg, Germany, and had been a fugitive for some years.
The Italian authorities attributed the killings to an internal feud within the notoriously violent ‘Ndrangheta clan, one of the country’s best known mafia organisations.
Falcone and his colleague Borsellino, killed a few months later, have become symbols of the fight against the mafia in Italy. The anniversary was marked on Friday at Palermo harbour by the arrival of a boat flying a huge portrait of Falcone.
The “legality boat,” an annual anniversary tradition, ferried in 1,200 students and Piero Grasso, a leading state attorney prominent in mafia investigations, to attend commemorative ceremonies.
New measures to hunt Italian mafia - May 24, 2008 - 5:42AM - AFP - http://news.theage.com.au/world/new-measures-to-hunt-italian-mafia-20080524-2hqw.html
