Rome, April 19 (IANS/AKI): Anti-mafia police said they impounded property from an Italian businessman worth 215 million euros including real estate, companies, bank accounts and a shopping centre.

The assets were seized from Alfonso Annunziata, who ran the financial affairs of the Calabrian mafia for 20 years, according to investigators. 

Besides the 'L'Annunziata' shopping centre near the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro, police impounded six companies, 85 items of real estate, 42 bank accounts and nearly 700,000 euros in cash.

Annunziata was arrested in March last year after a tax probe into his affairs and is currently on trial for mafia association.

Tax police alerted anti-mafia investigators after they became suspicious at the scale of business activities compared with the income he declared. 

Drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering rackets have in recent decades made the 'Ndrangheta Italy's wealthiest and most powerful international crime syndicate.