Alleged Camorra hit squad leader arrested

NAPLES, Italy, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The alleged head of a Camorra crime family killing team, a man believed to be responsible for 17 homicides in less than a year, was arrested Wednesday in Italy.

Police caught up with Giuseppe Setola two days after he escaped through a tunnel into the sewer system near Caserta, outside Naples, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. Franco Roberti, the anti-mob prosecutor in Naples, told the news agency investigators believed that Setola was "in a situation of great difficulty" after being driven from his hiding place on Monday.

Setola, 38, allegedly headed the Casalesi clan's murder squad. The clan is part of the Camorra, the Neapolitan equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia.

In November, a police commander was charged with providing information to Setola on operations.

Setola's alleged victims include six immigrants from Ghana, allegedly gunned down in September when a hit squad could not find the African drug dealer they were hunting.

At least two writers are under guard. Roberto Saviano's book Gomorrah attacks Setola, and police said they found a copy of Rosaria Capucchione's "Camorra Gold" in Setola's hideout, along with a copy of Pope John Paul II's autobiography.