Silvio Berlusconi's allies 'helping mafia spread across Italy'

Mr Saviano, who has been under 24-hour police guard since writing a book on the mob, said the ‘Ndrangheta mafia were courting the Northern League, a powerful ally of the prime minister and a member of his conservative coalition.

Mr Saviano alleged that the ‘Ndrangheta had expanded far outside its traditional power base in the southern Calabria region and had infiltrated Italy’s rich northern Lombardy region, including Milan, Italy's business and fashion capital.

“In the north, as in the south, ‘Ndrangheta seeks out political power and in the north it courts the League,” Mr Saviano said on a national television programme watched by nine million Italians on Monday night.

He cited judicial investigations into links between the ‘Ndrangheta and the Right-wing anti-immigration party, as well as the example of a League councillor who was filmed meeting a businessman with alleged links to the Calabrian mob.

His claims were also backed up by the release on Wednesday of a report by a parliamentary anti-mafia committee, which concluded that the ’Ndrangheta’s presence in northern Italy was in “constant, progressive development” and that the criminal organisation “interacts” with business interests in Lombardy.

The ‘Ndrangheta is suspected of laundering money earned from illegal activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution and toxic waste dumping by investing in legitimate businesses such as construction and public works contracts in the affluent north, the heartland of the League.

Mr Saviano’s on-air claims infuriated Roberto Maroni, the interior minister and a heavyweight in the Northern League, who said they were potentially defamatory and demanded a right of reply on the same television programme.

“As a minister and a member of the League I feel offended and outraged by Roberto Saviano’s slanderous words, which were fuelled by evident prejudice against the League,” he said.

“I would like a face-to-face meeting with him to see if he has the courage to say those things while looking me in the eye.”

The battle of words intensified further when Mr Saviano compared the minister’s challenge to threats that had once been made to him by the lawyer of a notorious Mafioso, Francesco “Sandokan” Schiavone.

“I’m amazed and alarmed by the minister’s words,” he said.

Mr Saviano’s 2006 book Gomorrah, a play on the name of the Naples-based Camorra mafia, became an international best-seller and was later turned into an award-winning film.

The government has arrested several top mafia leaders and seized millions of pounds’ worth of assets over the last two years, actions which Mr Maroni has hailed as evidence of its determination to crush organised crime.

The latest blow to be struck was on Wednesday, when anti-mafia police arrested Antonio Iovine, 46, one of the most powerful leaders of the Camorra, after they found him hiding in a wall cavity in a house in the town of Casal di Principe.

Mr Maroni said he had set up a special commission to keep track of any attempts by the mafia to muscle in on contracts for the 2015 Milan Expo.

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Try to Jaywalk Across This Street Art

Roadsworth is a street artist that stencils drawings on pavement and has also gotten arrested for his works of art.

He started out by painting bicycle symbols on the streets of Montreal, similar to the ones used to designate the city's bike paths. An advocate for bicyclists, he wanted to show the public that bicyclists should get their fair share of the road, along with the motorists.

From his artist statement: "For a long time I had been grumbling about the ill effects of a society dependant on oil and bent on over-consumption in general and our seeming unwillingness and/or inability to confront these issues despite our better intentions. The more the litany of complaints grew over an overstrained health-care system, obese children, bronchial disease, traffic congestion, pollution, global warming, war etcand the human misery these cause, the bigger and more fuel guzzling cars there were, the longer the lines of traffic grew and the hotter and smoggier the summer seemed to get."

"What began as a form of activism rooted in a desire for more bike paths and justified by the rationale outlined above eventually grew into an art project that, to a certain extent, continues today. Fuelled by a sense of righteous indignation I also felt empowered by the expressive and creative outlet that street art afforded me. Instead of feeling like a helpless passenger on a train headed for disaster I felt that I had created a voice for myself amid the noise of the city."

In 2004 Roadsworth was arrested for these activities and charged with 53 counts of mischief for his "graffitti". He received a lenient sentence mostly because of the public support he received. Here some more pics of Roadsworth art:

I think seeing this kind of artwork on the pavement would make crossing the street more interesting. Instead of looking at boring things like birds, nature, and cute UPS guys delivering packages, I could focus on the fun things in life, mainly the looks of confusion on people's faces when they come across these drawings.
(source MediaDump)