ANTONIO IOVINE
Antonio Iovine–Casal di Principe, 17 Nov. (AKI) -Anti-Mafia Italian police on Wednesday arrested Naples mafia boss Antonio Iovine near the southern city of Caserta. The head of the Naples mafia or Camorra’s powerful Casalesi clan, Iovine was among the Italian interior ministry 30 most wanted mafia fugitives and had been on the run for 14 years.
“This is a marvellous day for the fight against the mafia,” Italy’s interior minister Roberto Maroni told journalists.
Italy’s justice minister Angelino Alfano told members of parliament he would “immediately” order 46-year-old Iovine to be held in jail under the tough high-security regime for mafia prisoners.
The so-called ’41bis’ regime severely limits mafia detainees’ contact with fellow prisoners and with the outside world.
Police nabbed Iovine, nicknamed ‘the little boy’ in an apartment in Casal di Principe near Caserta, some 20 kilometres north of Naples. He did not resist arrest and has been transferred to custody at police headquarters in Naples.
Several other people were reportedly arrested inside the apartment, owned by a Camorra associate. Police also continued to search the apartment building for underground bunkers, documents and arms caches.
“The arrest of Antonio Iovine is a happy day for justice and legality. He was one of the two top fugitive Camorra bosses, the other being Michele Zagaria, whom we hope to catch as well,” Naples’ public prosecutor Giovandomenico Lepore told Adnkronos.
Lepore praised anti-mafia investigators for their “tireless” work and urged them keep on the trail of top Camorra and other mafia fugitives. These include Matteo Messina Denaro, who is believed to be the current head of the Sicilian mafia.
“The fight against the Camorra is not over, and we still have work to do in order to defeat it,” Lepore stated.
