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Virgina Raggi (in July 2019): Life under special police protection
Photo: YARA NARDI / REUTERS
It sounds like something out of a crime film.
But according to Virginia Raggi, the threats from Mafia circles against her and her family are quite real.
As the mayor of Rome, she took on numerous powerful families.
In return, she said in an interview, she was apparently the target of murder plans.
"We have been informed that they are planning an attack on my family and me," Raggi told the broadcaster Canale 5. However, she did not provide any further details about the criminal conspiracy.
However, it revealed the name of one of the families that were at the center: Casamonica.
In 2018 Raggi had several villas torn down that were illegally built by the Mafia group.
In retaliation, they tried to kill her, according to the politician.
Since then, she has been under special police protection.
In the course of her tenure, Raggi had also had disputes with the Spada family in the coastal town of Ostia and with the Morandos in the eastern suburbs of the Italian capital.
Only in April of this year did the police in Ostia confiscate mafia property worth around 18 million euros.
Shops and businesses of the so-called Spada clan, which runs bakeries, gas stations, fitness studios, dance schools and gambling dens in the district, were confiscated.
The police also confiscated more than a dozen cars.
The notorious Spada family built their corporate empire with profits from extortion, drug trafficking and loan shark deals, according to a statement from the financial police.
Again and again problems in the first years in the town hall
Taking action on Raggi's instructions apparently has consequences.
"There are areas in Rome where people come to me and tell me to keep fighting. But then they quickly disappear because they are afraid that one of the clans will notice something," Raggi said at Canale 5.
She is up for re-election next year.
In 2016, she was elected mayor of the city in a great success for the five-star movement.
Her first term in office had been fraught with numerous problems.
Among other things, in 2018 she was accused of lying in favor of an acquaintance when she was awarded the post of Roman tourism director.
This allegation was later rejected by a court, even if the proceedings are not yet fully completed.
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