Bank chief, doc arrested in 'Ndrangheta bust

(ANSA) - Crotone, January 15 - The president of a local bank in Calabria, a leading Rome-based doctor and a prominent local businessman were arrested Wednesday in an operation against the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia.
    The operation focuses on how the 'Ndrangheta's Grande Aaracri clan influenced the business of the council of the town of Cutro.
    Those arrested are Ottavio Rizzuto, president of the Banca di Credito Cooperativo del Crotonese, and former manager, from 2007 to 2015, of the Cutro council's technical area; Alfonso Sesito, a cardiologist at Rome's Policlinico Gemelli Hospital; and businessman Rosario Le Rose.
    The trio are accused of mafia association, extortion, abuse of office, influence peddling, failing to report crimes by a public officer, illegal access to computer systems, all crimes aggravated by mafia methods.
    Catanzaro prosecutors said "investigations have enabled us to state that over the years the 'Ndrangheta clan led by Nicola Grande Aracri exercised its influence on the council of Cutro, in fact managing extremely numerous contracts and deriving direct and conspicuous economic benefit from that.
    It said Rizzuto, the bank chief and former council manager, was a "central figure in this criminal metastasis".
    It said police carried out several raids of the local bank and council offices.
    The probe enabled prosecutors to shed light on how Rizzuto favoured and helped the 'Ndrangheta clan in getting hold of council contracts.
    It said Le Rose, the businessman, was another key figure.
    Sesito, the cardiologist, also "exerted considerable influence" in the case, the investigators said.