Rome prosecutors probing another snooping gang

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 29 - Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation into a group suspected of illegally accessing databases to compile dossiers on individuals, sources said on Tuesday, amid concern that Italy's democracy itself could be in peril after similar probes in Milan and Perugia.
    The group, nicknamed 'Squadra Fiore' (Flower Team), allegedly includes former law-enforcement officers, uses an apartment in the north-east of Rome for its activities and has foreign clients, the sources said.
    The probe, launched in the spring, is being handled by the postal police.
    The Milan probe into illegal hacking and snooping on personal police and interior ministry files involves more than 800,000 victims, police said Monday.
    That hacking gang was allegedly led by Milan Fair Foundation President Enrico Pazzali and ex supercop Carmine Gallo and allegedly targeted mainly business figures but also high-ranking politicians including President Sergio Mattarella and Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa, police have said.
    The Perugia probe centres on the activities of a former finance police officer, Pasquale Striano. (ANSA).