After sixteen years on the lam Michele Zagaria, the head of the notorious Casalesi clan from the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia, has been found in an underground bunker in his home town of Casapesenna near Naples as reported by BBC News.
Zagaria "has already been sentenced in absentia to multiple life terms in prison for a career of murder, extortion and drug trafficking" as reported by The Telegraph.
The mob boss was dubbed "the king of cement" because he had received "numerous public works construction contracts throughout Italy for projects that include the building of a prison" as reported by Adnkronos.
The country is ecstatic with Zagaria's arrest, and Senate president Renato Schifani has congratulated Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri and others for "this extraordinary success" as reported by AGI News.
The Camorra runs the streets of impoverished Naples and is involved in everything from the vice rackets such as drugs and prostitution to the corruption of legitimate industries including waste and construction, and its dirty operations were exposed to the world by Roberto Saviano in his 2006 international bestseller Gomorrah which subsequently was adapted into a film by director Matteo Garrone.
Meanwhile, further to a raid earlier this week against the Casalesi clan, prosecutors have "filed a request to parliament to lift the immunity of Nicola Cosentino, a former deputy finance minister in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government" as reported by Sylvia Poggioli for NPR: "police say Cosentino is a vital link between the Casalesi clan and political power in Rome." That's right, folks: organized crime cannot exist without public corruption. Indeed, speaking on Zagaria's arrest, anti-mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso said "it was likely Zagaria had spent his years as a fugitive near home, since mob bosses 'can only exercise their power if they're in an environment that protects them.'"
This guy Michele Zagaria makes Mob dons like John Gotti look like small potatoes. You know with all the money the government seizes from organized crime, lets hope it goes towards making the world a better place like feeding starving children and saving the environment like wildlife and rainforests. Unfortunately, we will never see this money but the government wants us to believe they are doing a good thing taking it from crime bosses. Like the old saying goes: Don't steal because the government hates competition!
Posted by: Clinton Fussell | 12/07/2011 at 05:35 PM