Request to drop Alemanno mafia charges

(ANSA) - Rome, September 16 - Prosecutors in one of the trials stemming from Rome's sprawling Capital Mafia case have asked judges to drop charges of mafia-style criminal association against former Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno. Assistant prosecutor Paolo Ielo revealed this during a hearing in the trial of Marco Milanese, former advisor to ex-finance minister Giulio Tremonti, in which Alemanno was scheduled to testify.
    During the hearing, Alemanno invoked the right to remain silent. "I won't speak until the judge makes a decision on my position, because this isn't my trial," he said.
    Alemanno is on trial for corruption and illegal financing.
    Prosecutors claim that between 2012 and 2013, Alemanno received 125,000 euros from Salvatore Buzzi - the jailed kingpin of several cooperatives at the centre of the Capital Mafia scandal - to undertake "acts against the duties of his office".
    Alemanno, a former neo-fascist, was mayor of Rome from April 2008 to June 2013.