Rewards offered for capture of Mafia men

ROME - Italian police, bent on netting the Mafia bosses who escaped the round-ups of the past months, have offered fat rewards for information leading to their capture, writes Patricia Clough.

They declined to produce a price list for the 230-odd Mafiosi they want, including the remaining 18 of the top 20 most wanted bosses, stressing that it would depend on the quality of the information and the results it produced. But they indicated it could reach hundreds of thousands of pounds.

'Whoever contributes to the capture of such important wanted people can have suitable rewards of several hundred million (lire)', said Luigi Rossi, the deputy chief of police, referring to the most-wanted list. 'If someone gives a general clue we cannot be very generous. It is not enough just to say 'I have seen so and so in Lombardy'.' One million lire is roughly pounds 500.

Mr Rossi stressed that these were not 'prices' on the heads of the Mafia, but 'recompense' for information.