THE LEADER of the Italian opposition called yesterday for the resignation of a minister in Silvio Berlusconi's government after the publication of new accusations that he collaborated with mobsters whose death threats have driven writer Roberto Saviano into exile.
Nicola Cosentino, a junior finance minister in Mr Berlusconi's government who comes from the same town as Saviano, is also a senior official in Mr Berlusconi's right-wing Freedom People movement and its chief organiser in Campania, the region around Naples. He is under investigation by the anti-Mafia branch of the city's prosecution service on the basis of evidence provided by a string of former Mafiosi who have claimed he received money from, and supplied help to, the Casalese family of the Neapolitan Mafia, the Camorra.
Saviano, whose book about the closeknit criminal network inspired the film Gomorra, revealed this week he was fleeing abroad following reports the Casalese family had plans to murder him by Christmas after repeatedly threatening his life.
After the publication by L'Espresso of leaked statements from the latest and fifth former Mafioso to accuse him, Mr Cosentino said: "I shall resign, not as a junior minister, but from politics, when just one of these allegations is proved." - ( Guardianservice)