Rome: Italian police on Monday arrested one of
the country`s most wanted mafia bosses and found hundreds of
thousands of euros hidden inside a wall in a separate bust
against a loan-sharking operation.
"The arrest of (Mario) Caterino, the number two of the
Casalesi clan, is an extraordinary success," Interior Minister
Roberto Maroni told reporters.
Caterino, 53, has been on the run since 2005 and has a
life sentence hanging over him. He was listed on Italy`s "most
dangerous fugitives" list.
The minister said investigators were getting ever
closer to clan leader Michele Zagaria, who has been a fugitive
since 1995 -- one of the top figures in the Camorra crime
syndicate based in and around the southern city of Naples.
Caterino was arrested in the clan`s bastion, Casal di
Principe.
In another investigation, Naples police found hundreds
of thousands of euros in 500-euro notes hidden inside a wall
of the house of a renowned loan shark who was identified
thanks to evidence given by a mafia turncoat.
Police said in a statement that they had found some of
the loan shark`s relatives replacing the banknotes with fakes
during the operation against the "usury bank" in a flat in the
historic neighbourhood of Santa Lucia.
PTI
