Massive operation nabs 40 alleged Casalesi clan members

(ANSA) - Naples, March 10 - Police on Tuesday executed arrest warrants against 40 alleged members of a notorious faction in the powerful Casalesi clan of the Neapolitan Camorra mafia. The suspects included Carmine and Nicola Schiavone, sons of the former superboss Francesco Schiavone, aka Sandokan, who were already in prison.
    They all allegedly belonged to the Schiavone faction of the Casalesi clan based in Casal di Principe in Italy's southern Campania region.
    Francesco Schiavone has been in prison since 1998 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2008 along with other former Casalesi bosses Antonio Iovine, Francesco Bidognetti and Michele Zagaria following the 10-year so-called Spartacus maxi trial against the Casalesi clan.
    Nicola, the eldest of Sandokan's seven children, was arrested in June 2010 after allegedly running the faction in his father's absence.
    His brother Carmine was apprehended in January 2013 on charges of attempted extortion aggravated by the use of mafia methods.
    The Casalesi clan was featured in Roberto Saviano's 2006 bestselling expose' Gomorrah, and death threats by Casalesi bosses against Saviano have forced the 35-year-old writer into round-the-clock police protection.
    Some 200 carabinieri police officers took part in Tuesday's operation in 13 provinces across Italy.