An operation linked to a probe
into alleged infiltration of Lombardy's political and business
world by the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia saw 24 people
arrested on Tuesday, sources said.
Of those, 21 suspects were taken to jail and three were put
under house arrest, including Edoardo Mazza, the mayor of the
province of Monza town of Seregno and a member of Silvio
Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia party.
Mazza, who gained headlines for campaigning against beggars,
is accused of facilitating the business of an entrepreneur
linked to the mafia who, in turn, allegedly got him votes for
his election as mayor.
Police said they had a wiretap in which Mazza promises the
construction entrepreneur, Antonio Lugarà, that he would
intervene to get him the contract to build a shopping centre at
Seregno.
"Every promise is a debt, isn't it," Mazza allegedly told
Lugarà.
Lugarà was among those also arrested in the investigation,
sources said.
Former Lombardy deputy governor Mario Mantovani is under
investigation for corruption in relation to the probe, sources
said.
Mantovani, now a Forza Italia regional councillor, is not
probed for mafia crimes.
He was arrested two years ago in relation to a separate
probe. The accusation regards his relations with businessman
Lugarà, the construction chief who also allegedly had relations
with Mazza, sources said.
The probe is into alleged extortion and drug trafficking too,
judicial sources said.
Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini, who led the probe, said that "I
can say there is a system" based on "omertà (the mafia code of
silence) and on "advantages for those who turn to the anti-State
to get benefits".
Speaking at a press conference, she said "it is easy for the
clans to infiltrate the institutional fabric".
Bocassini also said the bust had captured the last major
participant at a 2010 mafia summit held in a centre dedicated to
slain anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo
Borsellino.
The major 'Ndrangheta bust is expected to be one of the last
feathers in the cap of Boccassini, who made her name with
Bribesville and mafia probes and cases involving ex-premier
Silvio Berlusconi.
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