By John Phillips
ROME
The investigation into a mafia gang looting the Eternal City widened Monday as six people including three Navy officers were arrested on charges of bilking the Italian Navy of 7 million euros ($8.7 million).
As many as 100 people are now under investigation in the so-called Mafia Capitale probe, targeting former members of Rome ex-mayor Gianni Alemanno's city council and its links to a far-right group involved in criminal acts.
Alemanno himself is under inquiry for alleged membership to the mafia gang.
The six arrested Monday included Navy Lieut. Cmdr. Mario Leto and two other Navy officers, Sebastiano Distefano and Salvatore Mazzone, as well as three members of a company that provided black market petrol to gasoline stations controlled by the mob.
The six allegedly defrauded the senior service of $8.7 million worth of naval fuel oil, which had been supposedly delivered to the Navy at its deposit at the Sicilian port of Augusta.
Investigators determined the 11 million liters of fuel oil were never delivered and that the tanker vessel that had allegedly made the delivery, the Victory, had in fact sunk in the Atlantic in September 2013.
There were also plans to set up a contraband fuel oil scam at the port of Fiumicino, investigators said.
www.aa.com.tr/en
