Rome  - Italian police near Naples seized Tuesday dozens of businesses, buildings, cars and other assets allegedly belonging to local mobsters and worth around
50 million euros (69.7 million dollars), officials said.

Over 100 police were involved in the early mornings raids which mostly targeted properties in Caserta, a town near the southern port city.

Authorities suspect several jailed high-ranking bosses of the Neapolitan version of the mafia, the Camorra, ran the businesses through some 30 front men, many of whom are now under investigation.

"We've dealt a serious blow to the Casalesi (crime family). They still possess an illicit fortune but it's not what it used to be," Naples police anti-mafia squad chief Maurizio Vallone told the television news channel Sky TG24.

Apparently legitimate, the businesses were in fact used to cover money laundering and other criminal activities, while the houses and other real estate were acquired by the mobsters thanks to profits made through drug-dealing, officials allege.

The dealings and rivalries of the Camorristi mobsters including Casalesi have been vividly described in the international bestselling 2006 book, Gomorra, by Italian author Roberto Saviano.

In a separate operation Tuesday, police in the Sicilian town of Enna arrested on extortion charges four suspected mafia members, including the alleged local Cosa Nostra boss, 63-year-old Salvatore Seminara.(dpa)