Police seize one billion euros in mafia assets

AFP - Italian police have seized assets worth around one billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) from the Polverino mafia clan based in the Naples region, including companies, land and yachts, police said Thursday.

A police operation on Tuesday netted 39 alleged clan members on charges including extortion, drug trafficking and illegal financial dealings.

Two of those arrested were candidates from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's ruling People of Freedom party in upcoming local elections.

The arrests are the fruit of a joint investigation between Italian police and the Guardia Civil in Spain into the activities of the Polverinos.

Investigators said the clan controls a major drug trafficking network in the northern suburbs of Naples, supplying the Italian market from Spain.

The Naples crime syndicate, the Camorra, is a vast and wealthy organisation that is heavily involved in the drugs market and controls large parts of the construction and retail industries in the southern Italian region of Campania.