AN Italian crooner has been placed under investigation for singing the praises of the Camorra mafia, prosecutors said Tuesday following a raid against rival clans in a city near Naples.

    Nello Liberti has a song entitled “Clan Chief” about the mafia execution of a “traitor,” which includes the lyrics: “The clan chief has no freedom. He hides the truth for honor. He’s a serious man, it’s not true that he’s evil.”

    “He respects us. We have to respect him,” Liberti sings in the song.

    Prosecutors said the song justifies the killing of anyone who betrays the Camorra and are accusing the singer of “incitement to commit a crime.”

    Liberti, who can be seen wearing a tracksuit with heavy gold jewelery in one of his videos, is a crooner in the “neo-melodic” style that has been popular in southern Italy since the 1980s.

    Italian police issued a total of 41 arrest warrants in the operation Tuesday in which they arrested alleged members of the rival Ascione-Papale and Iacomino-Pirra clans in the city of Ercolano, near Naples.

    Italian media reported that several of those arrested were women, who allegedly have helped oversee extortion, drug trafficking and arms sales.

    (SD-Agencies)