ROME

Scores of people have been arrested by Italian police in an attempt to break up a mafia syndicate in Rome.

Italian police officials said 61 people were arrested on Tuesday morning and assets worth €10 million seized in raids in the Italian capital on premises allegedly linked to the Camorra crime organization.

Police said some of those arrested could face charges of being members of a crime organization, drug trafficking, extortion, usury, illegal possession of firearms, acquiring property illegally and using threats and violence. 

The operation came after Rome suffered a crime wave believed to have been led by the Neapolitan Camorra crime organization -  one of Italy's largest and oldest mafia clans.

Based in Napoli on the western coast of southern Italy, the Camorra is widely believed to influence business and politics in Rome. 

Operations ordered by Rome's Public Prosecutor were also reported to be continuing beyond the capital in the cities of Frosinone, Viterbo, L’Aquila, Perugia, Ascoli Piceno, Napoli, Caserta, Benevento, Avellino, Bari, Reggio Calabria, Catania and Nuoro.