Mafia probe into Italian MP

A JUDGE yesterday ordered the arrest of an MP from Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s party and 50 other people in the latest crackdown on organised crime in southern Italy.

Prosecutors in Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, say that Forza Italia deputy Gianfranco Blasi received electoral support in return for allowing local mafia groups to control the awarding of public works contracts.