A man convicted last
week in the sprawling 'Aemilia' trial on 'Ndrangheta Calabrian
mafia infiltration in Emilia holed up in a post office near
Reggio Emilia Monday, taking staff hostage with a knife, local
sources said.
According to early reports, the man, Francesco Amato, allowed
all the customers out of the branch before taking hostage five
staff including the woman director.
Police are on the scene and have blocked roads and started
negotiating, sources said.
After about an hour one of the five hostages, a woman, was
let out of the branch.
She fainted as soon as she got out and was treated by an
emergency medical team
Amato had been on the run since last week's conclusion of the
'Aemilia' trial which handed down 118 sentences totalling over
1,200 years in jail, including the father of former soccer
player Vincenzo Iaquinta, who got 19 years.
Iaquinta himself got two years for weapons possession but was
cleared of mafia charges.
Amato also got 19 years and has been on the run since the
sentence, police said.
Entering the post office, he reportedly said "I'm the one who
got 19 years in Aemilia".
He was reportedly brandishing a kitchen knife.
Police are still weighing whether to send in special forces,
sources said.
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