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| - The release of elderly and infirm mobsters from Italian jails during the coronavirus emergency has sparked an outcry, forcing the justice ministry to backpedal. Some 376 mafiosi and drug dealers have been moved from jails to house arrest since March, and judges were examining release requests from 456 others, the Repubblica daily said Thursday. Those allowed to go home include influential Cosa Nostra boss Francesco Bonura, 78, and Franco Cataldo, 85, who was part of a gang which murdered the teenage son of a turncoat in 1996 and dissolved his body in acid. Officials had said inmates aged over 70 could leave jail if they suffered from health issues which made them vulnerable to COVID-19, but judges were not instructed to differentiate between standard prisoners and mobsters. The decision followed widespread riots in prisons in March lead by inmates fearful of catching the virus, which has since killed some 30,000 people in Italy. Italy's anti-mafia prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho said Thursday it was particularly odd to have let out those serving time under the country's harsh prison isolation regime. Known as the 41-bis, it isolates mobster bosses entirely to prevent them from running their clans from behind bars. "If they are in isolation, it's obvious they cannot catch it, or be contagious," he said. Critics also pointed out the virus has been largely contained and Italy has begun lifting its national lockdown. Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede said he was drawing up a decree to allow judges to review the release decisions now the pandemic has eased, and each new request would go through anti-mafia judges as well. ide/bmm
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