Italian police on Friday said they
had uncovered a secret cupola of the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta
mafia that they said interacted systematically with police and
institutions and picked "affiliates" for parliament.
Arrest warrants were issued for five people including a
Senator in Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) party, Antonio
Caridi.
Police said the structure was "able to dictate the strategic
action" of the whole organisation and to "interact
systematically and discreetly with political, institutional and
business circles.
FI Senator Caridi is one of the five people involved in the
operation police said.
His arrest warrant has been sent to the Senate immunity
panel.
Warrants were also issued for former Democratic Socialist
MP Paolo Romeo, in jail since May 9, former regional councillor
Alberto Sarra, lawyer Giorgio De Stefano and Francesco Chirico.
The cupola picked "affiliates to be placed in the Italian
parliament", police said.
The cupola had a "decisive role" in conditioning many
"electoral appointments in a municipal, provincial and regional"
sphere", police said.
Giuseppe Scopelliti and Pietro Fuda were elected
respectively mayor and president of the province of Reggio
Calabria in 2002 thanks to votes from the 'Ndrangheta,
anti-mafia investigators said.
They underlined the "decisive role in the elections played
by lawyers Paolo Romeo and Giorgio De Stefano", who were
arrested Friday.
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