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Rome hosts major anti-mafia forum Mafia 'strangle Italy prospects'
(about 13 hours later)
A major anti-mafia conference is due to open in the Italian capital, Rome. The mafia are the biggest threat to southern Italy's economic prospects, Prime Minister Romano Prodi has told a conference against organised crime.
The three-day forum's 2,500 participants aim to raise awareness of the importance of the fight against organised crime in the country. "Lawlessness is the greatest obstacle to economic growth in southern Italy," he told the three-day forum in Rome.
Italy's three main mafias have killed some 2,500 people in the past 10 years, yet politicians have failed to tackle the issue, the forum's organisers say. Mr Prodi was briefly heckled by an audience member who said parliament must first purge itself of corrupt MPs.
A spate of recent mafia-related killings in the city of Naples has led to calls for the army to be deployed. Some 2,500 people have died in violence blamed on Italy's three main mafia groups in the last 10 years.
Last week, Italian police carried out a series of co-ordinated raids across the country, detaining more than 100 alleged mafia members suspected of drug-trafficking. According to the organisers of the anti-mafia forum in Rome, politicians have failed to tackle the problem.
In a separate development, a Sicilian judge on Wednesday sentenced dozens of associates of jailed mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano for a total of 300 years, Italy's Ansa news agency reported. Top politicians, senior judges, police and security officials and civil society groups were expected to be among the 2,500 participants at the conference.
'Permanent presence' More than once I've had to throw up my hands with foreign businessmen, who have refused to invest in the south because there weren't enough guarantees Romano Prodi
Among the Rome conference's speakers will be Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, as well as senior judges, police and security officials and civil society groups. An escalating turf war between mafia gangs in the Italian city of Naples has led to recent calls for the army to be deployed.
"No-one talks about the mafia except in emergencies, as in Naples recently," Lorenzo Frigerio of the anti-mafia group Libera told the AFP news agency."No-one talks about the mafia except in emergencies, as in Naples recently," Lorenzo Frigerio of the anti-mafia group Libera told the AFP news agency.
"You forget that it is a permanent presence in the country and that it has not missed the train of globalisation," Mr Frigerio said."You forget that it is a permanent presence in the country and that it has not missed the train of globalisation," Mr Frigerio said.
He added that the issue had been hardly mentioned during the election campaign earlier this year.He added that the issue had been hardly mentioned during the election campaign earlier this year.
The three main mafias of the southern Italy are Camorra, Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta. Co-ordinated raids
Mr Prodi told the forum: "Arresting the mafia chiefs is not enough, we must strike the organizations at their heart."
"More than once I've had to throw up my hands with foreign businessmen, who have refused to invest in the south because there weren't enough guarantees," he said.
More police have recently been deployed in Naples
As Mr Prodi described his government's plans to combat the mafia, he was interrupted by an audience member, who said: "You could begin by throwing out of parliament MPs found guilty of corruption."
Last week, Italian police carried out a series of co-ordinated raids across the country, detaining more than 100 alleged mafia members suspected of drug-trafficking.
In a separate development, a Sicilian judge on Wednesday sentenced dozens of associates of jailed mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano for a total of 300 years, Italy's Ansa news agency reported.
According to the BBC's David Willey, the Sicilian mafia remains hugely potent as it expands from its traditional drug trafficking to people smuggling and siphoning off millions of dollars from public works contracts.