An investigation into collusion between criminals and corrupt politicians in Rome widened on Thursday when police arrested two alleged members of the 'Ndrangheta mafia.

Officers from the paramilitary Carabinieri police accused Rocco Rotolo and Salvatore Ruggiero of being linchpins in relations between the criminal network in Rome, led by a one-eyed former fascist, Massimo Carminati, nicknamed "The Pirate", and the 'Ndrangheta, which is based in the southern region of Calabria.

Both were arrested in Rome and charged with mafia association. Criminals in Rome, working in collaboration with corrupt city councillors, are suspected of giving a lucrative contract for the cleaning of an open-air market on the Esquiline Hill, one of Rome's seven hills, to the Calabrian mob. In return, the Calabrians allowed businesses connected to Rome's criminal network to run centres for migrants and refugees in the far south.

Police said there were "common interests" between the 'Ndrangheta and the network in Rome, led by Carminati, a fascist convicted of domestic terrorism who lost an eye in a shoot-out with police in 1981. He was one of 37 people arrested and 100 others placed under investigation when the corruption scandal first emerged.

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Telegraph, London