Italian police arrest an alleged top mobster of the Camorra crime syndicate

Italian police arrest alleged top mobster

ROME — Italian police on Tuesday nabbed a suspected high-ranking mobster of the Camorra crime syndicate who is believed to have ordered three murders.

Nicola Schiavone was arrested early Tuesday in his villa in Casal di Principe, a small town north of Naples where his alleged clan is based, local police said.

The 31-year-old was alone and did not resist arrest, but instead complimented police for having found him, according to police and news reports.

TV footage showed masked police officers escorting Schiavone out of the villa to a police car.

Schiavone was considered to be at the helm of the Casalesi clan, a brutal group within the Camorra responsible for murders, extortion and other trafficking.

He is the son of imprisoned mobster Francesco Schiavone, reputedly the clan’s longtime boss. Another of the elder Schiavone’s sons was arrested last month.

Officials hailed Tuesday’s arrest as yet another blow to the group.

Police in Naples said Schiavone is suspected of ordering last year’s murder of three associates who allegedly helped the family extorting money from residents. Investigators believe the three were killed because they had sought to abandon the Schiavones for another group.

Their bodies were discovered last year buried in the area.

The activities of the Casalesi, named after their stronghold of Casal di Principe, were exposed in the best-selling book and subsequent movie “Gomorrah.”