Shock in Italy as top police face Mafia trial

ROME - The head of Italy's secret services and a senior police official have been ordered to stand trial for failing to search the secret hideaway of Mafia boss of bosses Salvatore "The Beast" Riina following his 1993 arrest.

The police's apparent reluctance to sequester Riina's villa has long been shrouded in mystery, but the decision to indict the pair has nonetheless shocked Italy.

Secret service chief Mario Mori and top Carabinieri officer Sergio De Caprio became national heroes for the prominent role they played in capturing the elusive Riina, a ruthless mobster who had been on the run for 23 years.

They now face a bitter legal battle to clear their names.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, locked in a bruising battle with the judiciary following a string of controversial rulings, has leapt to their defence.

"Instead of concentrating on the fight against the Mafia ... (the judiciary) is putting genuine heroes of justice on trial," Communications Minister Maurizio Gasparri said in a statement on Saturday -- one of a number from angry ministers.

"What is happening in Palermo is incredible and ... people who have justice at heart should do something about it. "

The prosecutors' office in Sicily has twice called on magistrates to drop their probe into Mori and De Caprio, but investigators have refused to let go and preliminary judge Marco Mazzeo ruled on Friday that there was sufficient evidence of foul play to justify a trial.

Riina was arrested on January 15 1993 in Palermo in what was hailed as a devastating blow against the Mafia just months after mobsters had stunned Italy by murdering two magistrates.

At the time, Mori was head of the Carabinieri's special operations unit in Palermo while De Caprio was the man who actually arrested Riina and who was known for years simply by the codename "Captain Last" to protect his identity.

But following the euphoria of the arrest, police refused to search Riina's secret hideaway, telling prosecutors they wanted to keep the building under surveillance and tag the visitors.

In reality, the police left the house unguarded. When prosecutors finally realised, 19 days later, they ordered a search, but by then the building had been stripped, the floors cleaned and the walls painted, removing all fingerprints.

Rumours immediately flowed that police top brass had ordered the surveillance teams out to give mobsters time to remove evidence of collusion between the state and the Mafia.

Mori and De Caprio have always denied the charges, saying there had been a simple "misunderstanding" between police units.

The trial is due to open on April 7.

- REUTERS