Apr 09 2008
Senator ‘filmed dining with local Mafia bosses’
Public prosecutors in southern Italy are reportedly investigating conservative senator Sergio De Gregorio, after he was filmed dining in restaurant there, together with several local Mafia bosses.
De Gregorio is suspected of Mafia association aimed at money laundering.
Police reportedly captured him on video as he dined with Mafia bosses in the Oak Tree restaurant in city of Reggio Calabria. Other evidence against him is said to include phone intercepts.
Investigators allegedly possess documents showing visits to De Gregorio’s secretary in Rome made by representatives of several prominent bosses from the powerful Calabrian Mafia, the N’drangheta.
De Gregorio is a candidate in Sunday and Monday’s national elections for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party.
He is the president of the Senate defence commission and leader of the populist Italians in the World Party, which he founded in 2006.
Police began monitoring politicians during campaigning for municipal elections in Reggio Calabria last year, in a probe of alleged links between between local politics and organised crime.
Senator ‘filmed dining with local Mafia bosses’ -Reggio Calabria, 9 April (AKI) - http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=1.0.2056157664
