Italy Justice Undersecretary Delmastro Resigns Over Mafia Link

ROME, Italy — Andrea Delmastro, undersecretary at Italy's Ministry of Justice, resigned on Tuesday amid reports that he held an undeclared stake in a Rome restaurant co-owned with the daughter of a man convicted of ties to the Camorra, a mafia organization based in Naples.

The controversy erupted earlier this month when the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano revealed Delmastro's business interest in the eatery, shared with the 18-year-old daughter of Andrea Caroccia, who had been sentenced for mafia-related offenses. Delmastro, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, maintained that he had committed no crime and sold his stake immediately upon discovering Caroccia's criminal history. However, the situation intensified when the newspaper La Repubblica published a 2023 photograph showing Delmastro posing alongside Caroccia, suggesting the two men had met previously. Investigations also uncovered that Delmastro had failed to report his financial interest to parliament, as mandated by law.

In his resignation statement, Delmastro acknowledged the misstep while defending his record on law enforcement. "I have always fought crime and achieved concrete, important...