Crackdown on Naples Mafia

Italian police arrested nearly 200 people in a dawn raid on drug traffickers in the centre of Naples yesterday, in one of the biggest ever anti-Mafia operations in a city notorious for organised crime.

The Carabinieri police said they were trying to break up the drug business controlled by two clans that make up the Naples Mafia known as the Camorra.

TV pictures showed people crying as police dragged the suspects away. Many of those arrested were women and in some cases entire families were taken into custody, police said.

Naples, an ancient port city sprawling round the bay at the foot of the volcano Vesuvius, has gained notoriety as one of Italy's most crime-ridden cities.

The government sent hundreds of police reinforcements to the city in November to tackle a bloody vendetta between rival Mafia gangs.

Last year, a Canadian tourist was wounded by a stray bullet while strolling in the central Piazza del Plebiscito and an American was beaten up by locals after he gave chase to two muggers.