Assets seized from Calabrian mafia suspects

Rome, May 17 (IANS/AKI) Police in southern Italy on Wednesday impounded assets worth close to one million euros from two lawyers and a tax advisor suspected of ties to the Calabrian mafia.

The seized assets included bank accounts, credit cards, insurance policies and other financial products, police said.

Police impounded around 220,000 euros of assets from Giulia Maria Rossana Dieni and some 569,000 euros of assets from fellow lawyer Giuseppe Putorì.

Police said they also impounded 193,685 euros of assets from tax advisor Rosario Spinella.

A lower court in July 2014 jailed Dieni and Putortì for eight years for associating with the Calabrian mafia's Alampi clan, whose power base is the city of Reggio Calabria.

The lawyers provided "stable and concrete assistance to the Alampis and helped them maintain and strengthen their territorial control", the court ruled.

The help given to the Alampis by Dieni and Putortì including delivering messages containing orders and updates from jailed clan boss Matteo Alampi to its rank and file, the court found.

The lower court also handed an eight-year prison term to Spinella for abetting the Calabrian mafia.

He administered several companies controlled by the Alampis and issued bogus invoices to cover up slush funds for the clan, the court found.

--IANS/AKI

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