Five Naples mafia suspects held in bid-rigging sting

Naples, May 24 (IANS/AKI) Police in southern Italy on Wednesday arrested five people and seized assets worth 70 million euros in an operation against the Naples mafia's Polverino clan, which is accused of infiltrating local public works contracts.

The suspects are accused of crimes including mafia association, money laundering, threats and abuse of public office, police said.

The Polverino clan allegedly infiltrated companies in its stronghold of Marano on Naples' northeast outskirts and rigged tenders for urban renewal projects worth 40 million euros, investigators said.

Two local businessmen struck a deal with the Polverino clan to win the infrastructure tenders "through intimidation and to launder large sums of money from the clan's illegal activities," police said.

The Naples mafia or Camorra is one of Italy's oldest, wealthiest and most violent mafias. Its main sources of revenue sources include extortion, drug trafficking, arms trading, prostitution, usury, waste disposal and money laundering.

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