Alarm over pro-Mafia Facebook pages

Jan 12 - Anti-mafia organisations in Italy express alarm over Facebook pages praising some of Cosa Nostra's most notorious and bloody bosses.

"Fan clubs" for jailed Mafia bosses such as Bernardo Provenzano, arrested in 2006 after nearly four decades on the run, and Toto Riina, nabbed in 1993 after 24 years at large, have appeared on Italian pages of the social networking site.

Anti-Mafia organisations, such as Libera, are concerned that members of pro-Mafia Facebook groups are young people. They put the blame primarily on a culture that tends to glorify criminals.

Anti-Mafia activists are divided over whether the pages should be blacked-out or censored.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) TONIO DELL'OLIO, HEAD OF THE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF LIBERA:

"We don't think that we can solve the problem by banning these activities (Facebook mafia fun clubs), through censorship. We should fight them by providing alternative models that make (the young people) understand how more convenient for everyone it is to abide by the law and to behave properly."