Carabinieri police on Monday arrested eight suspected Camorra mafia clansmen on suspicion of extorting money from businessmen - including by threatening them with a live cayman.
The eight are suspected of being affiliates of the notorious Casalesi clan and are being arrested on charges of criminal association, extortion, attempted extortion, battery, and illegal weapons, all aggravated by mafia methods. Five of them were named as Nicola Caterino, 59, sons Amedeo, 33, and Pietropaolo, 30, Michele Ferriero, 39, and Antonio Cristofaro, 43. The suspects allegedly extorted large sums of money from business owners at Christmas, Easter, and the Ferragosto summer holiday. In one case they savagely beat up two construction company owners, extorting 100,000 euros from them.
Wiretaps and testimony from ex clan affiliate turned state's witness Luca Mosca were instrumental in the case, investigators said.
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