Reggio Calabria, Italy - The mayor of the southern Italian town of Seminara and his deputy are among 13 people arrested in a police swoop against the Calabrian version of the mafia, the 'Ndrangheta. Mayor Antonio Pasquale Marafioti, 57, was picked up on Thursday night in an operation that also netted the alleged local mob boss, Rocco Antonino Gioffre, 71, news reports said.
Marafioti and his deputy Mariano Battaglia, 52, who was also arrested, took office following the victory of their centre-right ticket in May elections - a local poll that investigators suspect was rigged by the 'Ndrangheta, the reports said.
The 'Ndrangheta, which is less known than the Sicilian Mafia, made international headlines when six Italian men were murdered in a restaurant in Duisburg, Germany, on August 15 in a suspected mob feud.
