The head of a notorious Rome crime family was given a lavish funeral on Thursday, with a helicopter dropping red rose petals on mourners and a brass band playing the theme tune from the Godfather movie.

Italian politicians denounced the ostentatious send-off for Vittorio Casamonica, 65, and called on the Interior Ministry to explain whether it had given special permits for the ceremony.

An ornate hearse pulled by six, black-plumed horses, carried Casamonica’s body to a Roman Catholic basilica in the Rome suburbs, where a funeral Mass was celebrated.

“You have conquered Rome, now conquer paradise,” said a poster strung up on the gates of the church. “King of Rome,” proclaimed another.

The Casamonica clan has been accused of racketeering, extortion and usury. Rome city hall said that Vittorio Casamonica himself was the subject of “many investigations into Roman criminality”.

“Never again. Rome cannot be defaced by those who want it to become the set of the Godfather,” Matteo Orfini, president of the ruling Democratic Party, wrote on Twitter.

The hard-left SEL party called on Interior Minister Angelino Alfano to explain how such a funeral could take place.

“These funerals might seem like a folkloric custom, but in reality they send a clear message of impunity on the part of the clans: we still exist and we are powerful,” SEL politicians Arturo Scotto and Celeste Costantino wrote in a statement.

“That is unacceptable in a democratic state.”

There was no immediate comment from the Interior Ministry.