Graziano Camorra accusation dropped (2)

(ANSA) - Naples, July 25 - Naples anti-mafia investigators have dropped a case against Campania regional councillor Stefano Graziano, the former head of Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left democratic Party (PD) in the southern region, for alleged external participation in mafia association, ANSA sources said Monday. The investigators have sent probe documents to prosecutors in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, near Caserta, only in relation to alleged vote buying, without the aggravating factor of Camorra purposes, the sources said. Graziano suspended himself as regional chief of the PD after police searched his homes and office in Rome and in the town of Teverola, near Caserta, in April as part of a probe that led to nine arrests, including that of restaurateur and businessman Alessandro Zagaria.
    Initially, investigators were scrutinizing Zagaria's alleged backing of Graziano's electoral campaign.
    Zagaria was thought to be a member of the Casalesi clan of the Camorra mafia in Campania and an intermediary between the mafia and the political and business worlds.