Antonio Zagaria
(ANSA) – Caserta, November 20 – Italian police on Tuesday arrested the brother of jailed Casalesi clan boss Michele Zagaria, Antonio, in an operation where nine arrest warrants were issued against the Camorra Naples mafia clan whose criminal empire was exposed by writer Roberto Saviano.
Police said those arrested were top figures in the Casalesi clan, led by Zagaria until his arrest last December after more than 16 years on the run.
Antonio Zagaria, believed to be his brother’s lieutenant, was taken into custody in a street of the Zagarias’ home town of Casapesenna near Caserta so he could not try to dodge arrest in a warren of tunnels and bunkers built by his brother, police said.
The arrested are accused of extorting money from a local farmer.
The operation, dubbed Thunderball 2, also brought to light a 2000 episode in which Casalesi associate Francesco Capaldo, 83, stole three billion lire (about 1.5 million euros) from the Italian Post Office.
Writer and anti-mafia campaigner Saviano has been in round-the-clock police protection since his 2006 book Gomorrah brought down death threats from the Casalesi.
Gomorrah was turned into a 2008 film that won second prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
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