Interior Minister Giuliano Amato on Friday presented a plan to stem a bloody crime wave in Naples .
Visiting the southern city one day after Premier Romano Prodi, Amato pledged to crack down on the Neapolitan crime syndicate known as the Camorra .
"The Camorra had better understand that there will be no more areas where it reigns... There will be no more crime sanctuaries and those who commit crimes will pay," the minister said .
Amato then proceeded to sign a 'security pact' with local officials at Naples central police station .
The accord includes a series of measures designed to bring down crime in and round Naples where more than 12 murders have taken place in the past fortnight, most of them Camorra linked .
More than 1,000 police and other law-and-order officials will be sent to the city and surrounding province to boost the 13,250-strong local police force .
In particular, a 'rapid reaction' force of 400 policemen will be set up for what Amato described as "targeted anti-crime operations" .
The plan also provides for 80 more patrol teams in the city and gives the police more cars and computers .
Surveillance cameras will be mounted throughout the city and particularly in high-crime areas. Amato said this measure, to be completed within six months, would allow constant police monitoring of roads, stations and schools .
City street lighting will also be improved .
Prodi has ruled out sending in the army for now, arguing that an increased police presence in Naples is more important .
But he stressed that troops could be deployed if the situation failed to improve .
Meanwhile, the government sought to ease public alarm, noting that the number of murders in Naples was actually lower this year than last .
It said 49 murders had taken place in the first 10 months of 2006 compared to 52 during the same period in 2005 .
"Naples is not the Far West and those who depict it that way are harming the city," Amato said .
Naples Mayor Rosa Russo Jervolino said a "dirty media campaign" was under way against the city .
But she hailed the government's "concrete action" as the start of a turnaround .
Prodi has not only promised "tough action" against the Camorra but also investment projects aimed at improving the city's social and cultural life and reducing its 24.7% jobless rate .
Since the start of the year, there have been more than 72 murders, 50 of them Camorra-linked .
Meanwhile, between January and July of this year, some 3,400 robberies and muggings were reported, an average of more than 15 a day .
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella has come under fire for championing a prisoner amnesty recently approved by parliament which led to the release of some 2,720 inmates from Campania's jails and 1,320 in Naples alone .
Six of the most recent murder cases involved convicts released under the amnesty .
