NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities arrested 54 organized crime suspects on Thursday including three they considered high-ranking members of the Gambino crime family, officials said.
In New York, charges were being filed against 62 people including the street boss, the under boss and the consigliere of the Gambino family -- the three highest-ranking members not already in prison -- a U.S. law enforcement official said.
The U.S. official asked not to be identified because the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn was to announce the arrests later on Thursday. The Italian Interior Ministry planned a news conference at the same time.
"Those arrested are high-level members of the most important Mafia families linked to the head of Cosa Nostra, Salvatore Lo Piccolo," a police statement said.
Caretaker Prime Minister Romano Prodi praised what he called a "brilliant operation against organized crime."
Vincenzo Licciardi, 42, purportedly a boss of the Camorra crime group, was arrested in a Naples suburb. He had been on the run since 2004 and was one of Italy's 30 most wanted criminals, police said.
The Camorra is thought to be much less unified in structure than the Sicilian Mafia, made up of rival clans that often clash violently in turf wars.