Interior Minister Giuliano Amato on Monday said all efforts would be made to identify and apprehend those responsible for making threats against Italy's leading economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore.
''Il Sole 24 Ore has been making an important contribution over the past months to encourage people in Sicily and the south to stand up to organized crime,'' the minister said.
''There is a new climate in Sicily today. Its society no longer accepts being under the influence of local gangs and the State is doing its part by arresting leading crime figures,'' Amato observed.
''A new alliance exists between the State and society to isolate and condemn these Mafiosi. They must understand that they don't scare anyone anymore,'' the interior minister added.
On Sunday, Il Sole 24 Ore Editor-in-Chief Ferruccio de Bortoli confirmed that he had received an envelope with two bullets inside of it, a typical Mafia threat.
The envelope was apparently sent after the car of Nino Amadore, an Il Sole journalist who wrote a book, The Gray Zone, about the links between the Mafia and leading members of the Sicilian economy and society, was seriously vandalised.
The Il Sole 24 Ore daily belongs to the powerful industrial employers' association Confindustria which has waged a campaign against paying protection money to organized crime and has vowed to expel members who do not report this kind of extortion.
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella on Monday also voiced his support for both de Bortoli and Amadore.
''It is my hope that investigators can swiftly identify those responsible for these vile and unacceptable acts of intimidation against two representatives of a newspaper like Il Sole 24 Ore which has made an important contribution to the growth of the economy in the south and the fight against the illegality with which the Mafia wants to put a stranglehold on the nation's economy,'' Mastella said.
