16 arrested in Puglia mafia sweep

(ANSA) - Brindisi, September 18 - Police on Thursday arrested 16 people including an alleged mobster and two well- known associates of the southern Puglia region's Sacra Corona Unita (SCU) crime syndicate.
    The suspects, arrested on various charges including mafia association, usury, extortion and money laundering, also include four entrepreneurs from Mesagne in the province of Brindisi and a former local councillor from the same city. One of the suspects, 41-year-old SCU boss Francesco Campana, was already in custody in Pavia afollowing his arrest in April 2011.
    Police also seized assets worth one million euros during the sweep.
    Investigations began in 2011 following a report from a regional councillor of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, Danilo Cristolla.
    The FI councillor had approached loan sharks linked to the crime syndicate in a bid to pay off debts contracted to finance two earlier regional election campaigns.