Italy Says Arrests Top Naples Mafia Boss

Investigators believe Giuseppe Setola is a boss of the Camorra, the mafia organisation based in the southern Campania region around Naples.

Italian police on Wednesday arrested a leader of the powerful Naples mafia, suspected of 18 murders over the past year and considered one of the country's 30 most dangerous fugitives.

Investigators believe Giuseppe Setola was a boss of the Camorra, the mafia organisation based in the southern Campania region around Naples featured in Roberto Saviano's best-selling book Gomorra.

Already convicted for murder and criminal association, Setola is accused of masterminding a bloody turf war in recent months and ordering the killing in September of six African immigrants.

Police said he was seized as he tried to escape across a rooftop near the town of Caserta.

The house where Setola was found was adjacent to a clinic where investigators suspect he had sought treatment for injuries sustained during a daring escape from police on Monday, when he evaded capture by fleeing through the sewer network.

"You won," Setola told police as he was arrested, according to Italian media reports.

Police also seized some 10 million euros ($13.25 million) in cash and properties linked to Setola and his family.

Silvio Berlusconi's government sent hundreds of troops to Campania after six men from Ghana, Togo and Liberia were shot dead in September in what was believed to be a show of strength by the Camorra to exert its control over drug and extortion rackets.

"This is a very serious blow for the Camorra," said Interior Minister Roberto Maroni.

Setola, 38, had been at large since April 2008 after escaping from house arrest which had been granted so he could be treated for a purported eye problem.