(By Denis Greenan).
The most dangerous Italian mobster
ever to turn State's evidence has claimed local politicians
enabled his organisation to thrive around the southern city of
Naples and make inroads in business and politics elsewhere.
Antonio Iovine, a top Camorra boss whose decision to
become informer made international headlines earlier this month,
has told prosecutors that the Neapolitan mafia was able to
prosper thanks to the complicity of widespread corruption in the
local political system.
"There was money for everyone in a system that was
completely corrupt," Iovine told investigations days ago, in
judicial papers made public Wednesday.
"It made no difference what political side a mayor came
from because the system operated, and operates, in the same
way," he said.
Colloquially, in the Naples area, the mafia-ridden
political and business machine is known as 0' sistema (The
System) in the local dialect.
"I'm well aware of the crimes that I've stained myself
with.
"But I'm explaining to you a system in which the Camorra is
not the only one to blame".
Iovine freely admitted that tenders were only open to
Camorra-linked or Mob-run firms, but claimed "this could have
been different if politicians had decided to do something about
it".
But Lorenzo Diana, one of the former local politicians
cited by Iovine, claimed "there was nothing we could do, the
Camorra dominated things, Iovine has discovered hot water".
Diana said he had "reported this state of affairs on
several occasions" to anti-mafia bodies "at all possible
levels".
Iovine's statements were made public on Wednesday after
being presented as evidence in a criminal trial.
Iovine, also known as 'o ninno', is considered one of the
four former bosses of the powerful Casalesi Camorra clan from
Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta, whose death
threats have forced anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano, of
Gomorrah fame, into 24-hour police protection.
The others are Francesco Bidognetti, Francesco Schiavone
(aka Sandokan) and Michele Zagaria.
Iovine, 50, is currently serving a life sentence for
multiple murder and other crimes under Italy's tough prison
regime for organised criminals, the so-called article 41-bis,
after being captured in November 2010 following 15 years on the
run.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in
January 2010 along with Bidognetti, Schiavone and Zagaria
following the 12-year so-called Spartacus maxi trial against the
Casalesi clan.
Saviano has hailed Iovine's 'repentance" as "the biggest
blow ever against the Camorra-run System".
Mafia experts say it is even more significant than the
1980s evidence of former top Cosa Nostra figure Tommaso
Buscetta, because Buscetta's evidence, which eventually
implicated late Christian Democrat statesman Giulio Andreotti,
regarded events much prior to his capture.
Iovine was also in a position to keep pulling the strings
despite the severe conditions of his incarceration, Camorra
analysts said.
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