Police in southern Italy rounded up hundreds of convicted mobsters and suspects Tuesday, hours after tough new anti-Mafia measures were passed by the government.
Although the decree approved by the Cabinet on Monday night applies to all of Italy, the majority of those taken into custody by police Tuesday were in Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Puglia.The Cabinet decree tightened how police and courts can handle organized crime cases after a national outcry over the May 23 murder of Judge Giovanni Falcone, Italy's leading anti-Mafia investigator and a national hero.
A bomb blast under a highway outside Palermo killed Falcone, his wife and three bodyguards.