One-Eyed 'Pirate Of Rome' On Trial In Mafia Case
Massimo Carminati is among dozens accused of colluding with bureaucrats and politicians to rig public tenders for city projects.
A one-eyed gangster nicknamed "The Pirate of Rome" has gone on trial alongside 45 other defendants accused of skimming millions of euros off city hall contracts.
Massimo Carminati, a former member of Rome's notorious far-right Magliana Gang, and his partner, the convicted murderer Salvatore Buzzi, are accused of masterminding a major crime ring with links to city bureaucrats and politicians.
The trial is the result of the "Mafia Capital" investigation which uncovered evidence of alleged collusion among senior public figures in Rome.
It is the biggest mafia trial in the city's recent history, with prosecutors saying their year-long investigation has laid bare systematic corruption in the Italian capital.
Massimo Carminati
Alleged mafia boss Massimo Carminati, nicknamed 'The Pirate of Rome'
They allege politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats linked up with mobsters to rig public tenders for projects including refugee centres and rubbish collection.
Carminati, who lost an eye in a shootout with police in the 1980s, is alleged to have delivered envelopes of cash to officials in exchange for lucrative public contracts.
Ahead of the trial police released an array of wiretaps which they claim record the defendants openly discussing their schemes.
In one of the wiretaps, Buzzi is alleged to have said: "Do you have any idea how much money you can make from immigrants? The drugs trade bring you less money."
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Alessandro Diddi, the lawyer for Salvatore Buzzi, at the courthouse in Rome
Neither Carminati nor Buzzi will appear in court during the trial. They will follow proceedings via video links from a high-security jail.
Both men have denied having any links to the mafia, a crime which carries longer prison terms and tougher jail conditions than a conviction for corruption.
"In this whole story, the thing which has really annoyed Carminati is the fact that his name has been associated with the words 'mafia' and 'drugs'," said Carminati's lawyer Giosue Naso.
"He has nothing to do with the mafia."
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A court employee brings legal files into the courthouse ahead of the trial
But Alfonso Sabella, a renowned Sicilian anti-mafia prosecutor who was drafted into the city after the "Mafia Capital" scandal escalated last year, said: "Rome is unfortunately fundamentally corrupt.
"This is not your traditional mafia involved in drug dealing or extortion rackets. This is something original."
Other defendants include Luca Gramazio, the former head of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party on the regional council, and Mirko Coratti, former head of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party on the Rome city council.
Both have denied any wrongdoing.
The case is expected to last until at least July 2016.
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