The detained are accused of offences including violence, extortion, intimidation, fraud and possessing weapons and explosives.

Italian Police arrest Carmine Spada, the chief of the clan. Pic: Massimo Percossi/EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock
Image: Italian police arrest Carmine Spada. Pic: Massimo Percossi/EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock

Police have arrested 32 people on suspicion of Mafia activities at an Italian seaside resort following dawn raids.

They are accused of belonging to or having links with a clan allegedly run by the Spada family.

Among those arrested in Ostia, in Rome, was Carmine Spada, known as "Romoletto", who is believed to be the head of the clan.

His brother Roberto - who headbutted a TV journalist, breaking his nose, in November - was also arrested.

The latest mafia blitz - codenamed Operation Eclissi - was carried out by officers from the Italian capital Rome.

Italian Police escort Carmine Spada (L on backseat), the chief of the clan, during an anti-mafia operation against the Spada clan in Ostia, near Rome, Italy
Image: Carmine Spada is taken away by police. Pic: Massimo Percossi/EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock

Those detained are accused of a range of offences including violence, extortion, intimidation, fraud, drug trafficking, and possessing weapons and explosives.

The city's mayor Virginia Raggi thanked police, prosecutors and the country's interior minister Marco Minniti for the arrests.

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She tweeted: "Rome gets a new lease of life with the operation against the Spada clan in Ostia ... Together we say no to criminality. #MafiaGetOutofRome."

The coastal neighbourhood of Ostia is the only one of Rome's 15 districts to be put under direct government control because of alleged mafia infiltration.

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