Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced a new strategy today designed to deal a final blow to organized crime before his current term of office expires in four years' time, Reuters reported. Berlusconi said details of the plan would be made public after the summer. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the government planned to build on its success in seizing mafia property and using soldiers to patrol the streets. Berlusconi said his government, "supported by a large and solid majority, with the possibility to remain in place for another four years", had the opportunity to implement a long-term crime-busting strategy. "This is a long-term plan, designed to be definitive, in the fight against the forces of evil: not just against common crime, but also against organized crime," he told a news conference, promising to land a "definitive blow". Maroni said crime had fallen by 14 percent since the centre-right government took office last year.
