Anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S) chief Beppe Grillo said Friday his party will
have nothing to do with organized crime.
"To those who have ears to hear, we reiterate a concept
that to us is a given: votes from the mafias disgust us," he
wrote on his popular blog.
"The mafias have always tried to jump on the winner's
bandwagon. They tried it with the M5S at Quarto and it will
happen again in future," he wrote.
"The M5S in Quarto slammed the door on them violently and
it will always be this way".
The foul-mouthed comedian-turned-politician's remarks came
after a former councillor in the town of Quarto near Naples,
Giovanni De Robbio, was recently ejected from the M5S for his
involvement in a probe for mafia association.
On Thursday, Grillo put up an extensive
question-and-answer post on his blog explaining wiretaps
released December 23 and published in the Italian media
Wednesday in which De Robbio had a supposedly incriminating -
but in fact totally innocent, Grillo said - exchange with Quarto
Mayor Rosa Capuozzo.
Parties on all sides of the political spectrum have called
for Capuozzo to quit.
The anti-euro M5S prides itself on being an outsider to
what it says is the corrupt, conniving political system in
Italy, where it is currently the second-largest party after
Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD).
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