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Italian cheese manufacturer held over mafia links
Italian police have arrested the head of one of Italy's biggest mozzarella makers, Guiseppe Mandara, on charges he had close ties to the mafia.
The police have seized 100,000 worth of assets from the Mandara Group as the "Armani of cheese" is arrested in connection with mafia ties
Mandara - who once dubbed himself the "Armani of Mozzarella" - was arrested with three associates near Naples, police said.
They accused him of collaborating with the Casalesi clan of the Naples-based Camorra mafia.
His Mandara Group firm is also accused of producing counterfeit cheese.
The company allegedly mixed cow's milk with more expensive buffalo milk that is the key ingredient in the trademark soft white cheese, and passed off batches of provolone cheese as a more expensive kind, AFP news agency reported.
Police said they had seized €100m euros worth of assets.
Police said the links between Mandara and the mafia went back to the 1980s, when a mafia bailout helped rescue his business from bankruptcy.
The mozzarella producers' association was quoted as saying it had expelled the Mandara Group and would take an active part in the investigations.
