The release of a son of jailed Cosa Nostra 'boss of bosses' Salvatore (Toto') Riina sparked a furore on Thursday.
Giuseppe Salvatore (Salvo) Riina, the third of Toto' Riina's four children, was released after Italy's high court ruled he had served enough of his sentence.
The ruling puzzled legal experts, especially because Riina was being held under special tough anti-Mafia jail rules.
Salvo Riina was convicted in 2004 of illegally obtaining public works contracts, money laundering and extortion and sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison.
This was later reduced on appeal to eight years and ten months.
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato called justice and police chiefs to try to understand why Riina Jr had been let out.
''This is a serious incident,'' he said.
The head of the parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, Francesco Forgione, said he was ''concerned'' at the release because it might boost Cosa Nostra's morale after a string of police successes including the arrests of Riina's two successors.
He did not criticise the high court's decision but said it was ''the fruit of a justice system that is too slow''.
The 30-year-old Riina was arrested in 2002 in his home town Corleone, made famous by the Godfather movies.
Police said wire taps allowed them to collect evidence that the younger Riina was following in his father's footsteps and had set up a number of front companies through which he operated as a silent partner in sectors like construction and road maintenance.
The recordings, police added, also showed that the Riina family had access to huge sums of money for investment in both legal and illegal activities.
Toto' 'the Beast' Riina was arrested in January 1993 and is currently serving twelve life sentences for murder, including those of anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.
Salvo's older brother Giovanni Riina is serving a life term on four counts of murder.
