The Camorra mafia-linked
politician Nicola Cosentino, a former Berlusconi government
undersecretary, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of extortion
and unfair competition in connection with the sale of motor fuel
in the southern Campania region.
Twelve other arrest warrants were also issued in the probe,
including ones against Cosentino's brothers Giovanni and Antonio
and Pasquale and Antonio Zagaria, brothers of Michele Zagaria, a
former boss of the powerful Casalesi clan of Campania's Camorra
mafia whose death threats have forced anti-mafia writer Roberto
Saviano into 24-hour police protection.
The ex-prefect of the Campania city of Caserta, former
centre-right lawmaker Maria Elena Stasi, is also being probed in
relation to the case for suspected corruption and extortion.
The Cosentino family, which own a number of petrol stations
in the province of Caserta, is suspected of having used illicit
methods including extortion and bribery to damage their
competitors, with the help of alleged ties with the Casalesi.
Investigators say Casalesi bosses banned their affiliates
from demanding 'protection money' from service stations
belonging to the Cosentino family.
Cosentino, a former economy undersecretary and ex regional
coordinator for former premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of
Freedom (Pdl) party, is already on trial for alleged collusion
with the Casalesi in relation to the construction of a shopping
mall near Caserta.
Prosecutors in that case claimed he was the "national
reference point" of the Casalesi, who come from his home town of
Casal di Principe.
Cosentino denied all wrongdoing and Berlusconi described
the case against him as an example of alleged judicial
persecution.
However, he did drop Cosentino from his centre-right
party's candidate lists ahead of general elections in February
2013 amid concern over a possible political backlash.
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