ROME -- A yacht once belonging to Benito Mussolini was among the 28 million euros worth of assets seized on Monday from a businessman suspected of links to a large organised crime network, according to a statement by the Italian finance police. The owner was Salvatore Squillante, 68, a businessman from Salerno accused of property crime, large-scale tax evasion and fraud.

 The operation also involved the sequestration of many of Squillante's other assets, including real estate, luxury cars, bank accounts and company stakes, part of a larger investigation into three individuals and 10 companies. Two boats were seized, one of them the 'Konigin II' which was renamed 'Fiamma Nera' (Black Flame) when it was donated to Mussolini in the 1930's by a fascist friend.

 The sailboat, a typical Dutch model built by a famous German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen in 1912, was apparently used for the dictator's romantic trips away with his mistress Clara Petacci. It was deliberately sunk in 1943 to stop it falling into German hands after the fall of the fascist regime, but was hauled out and restored before falling into the hands of Squillante.

 Among the other assets seized from the three individuals were 32 plots of land and 75 properties of various types including apartments, offices and shops in Rome, as well as a castle. One of these sites was reportedly rented by a principal protagonist in the so-called 'Mafia Capitale' inquiry, convicted murderer Salvatore Buzzi. The probe was the result of a scandal in 2014 involving the government of the city of Rome, in which alleged crime syndicates, Buzzi among them, misappropriated money destined for city services.

 A confiscation order from a Rome court said that Squillante, who served a community service sentence in 1993 for a fraudulent bankruptcy, made deals that suggested he might be linked to a Rome-based mafia network run by a former neo-fascist gangster, according to Reuters. 

 The document said that his activities "could raise suspicions of a possible hidden pact between this man and members of organised crime (groups) to share out money from contracts to manage migrant reception awarded by the (Rome) administration."    ft