ROME (AP) — A knife-wielding man is holding hostages in a northern Italian post office, days after receiving a 19-year jail term for a Mafia conviction.
The Italian news ANSA and SkyTG24 said Francesco Amato quickly freed all customers Monday in the Pieve Modolena post office, then freed one employee but kept holding four other workers.
ANSA said he demanded to speak with Italy's interior minister. The suspect is one of 125 defendants convicted last week in nearby Reggio Emilia in a trial about infiltration by the 'ndrangheta, a southern Italy-based organized crime group, into businesses in the affluent Reggio Emilia region.
ANSA said when Amato entered the post office he reportedly shouted: "I'm the one sentenced to 19 years" for Mafia association.
During trial, he had been free on his own recognizance.
