Rome -
More than 60 people were arrested and over 230 million euros (300 million dollars) in cash were seized in Italy in three nationwide anti-mafia sweeps on Tuesday.
In Palermo, police arrested 41 suspected members of the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian branch of the Italian mafia. They are accused of involvement in extorsion, drug trafficking, illegal possession of firearms and other crimes.
The producers of a television series filmed in Palermo were among the victims of the suspects, as well as businessmen and shopkeepers, police said, adding that several mafia-owned betting shops were raided in the same operation.
In Turin, a judge ordered the arrest of 22 suspected members of the Ndrangheta, the branch of the mafia rooted in the southern region of Calabria but also present in the north of Italy, and the seizure of assets worth several million euros.
The judge, Giuseppe Salerno, said that the Ndrangheta had managed to influence the result of last year's local elections in Chivasso, a town on the outskirts of Turin.
According to investigators, the Ndrangheta controlled the votes of the third-placed candidate in the contest, and offered them to the centre-right and centre-left rivals who faced each other in a second round run-off.
In return, the winning side allegedly had to assign public contracts to mafia-linked businesses and include a mafia associate in the local government.
But elected mayor Gianni De Mori from the centre-left Democratic Party did not stick to the bargain, investigators said.
In Reggio Calabria, the regional capital of the Ndrangheta's heartland, Italian tax police seized 230 million euro's worth of assets, including controlling stakes in two well-known hotels and the local basketball team.
The assets belonged to two businessmen who were arrested last year for alleged mafia links. They are suspected of money laundering on behalf of Domenico Condello, a Ndrangheta boss who was arrested this month after nearly 20 years on the run. - Sapa-dpa