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ROME (AP) — Police have seized construction companies, apartments, villas and a yacht belonging to a businessman who authorities allege consorted with a Mafia-like gang in Rome with ties to local politicians.
Tax Police Lt. Col. Gerardo Mastrodomenico said the assets of Cristiano Guarnera are worth some 100 million euros ($125 million).
The seizure strikes another blow to an organization investigators say was headed by a local crime boss who was a far-right domestic terrorist in past decades.
Intercepted phone calls indicate the criminal gang included people who used connections to politicians to secure public works contracts in exchange for kickbacks to house migrants and Roma families.
The construction projects seized Friday include an apartment complex that was to tower over the sprawling Villa Pamphili public park, much to the local community's dismay.
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