Cosa Nostra in Sicily and their New York cousins in organised crime were seriously hit by combined US-Italian police operations last week. But analysts and insiders questioned whether the media were themselves victims of an overhyped blitz.

In Rome, police officials and prosecutors from both sides of the Atlantic staged a well-rehearsed press conference close to Thursday evening deadlines. Comparisons were made with the two big transatlantic anti-Mafia operations of the 1980s, Pizza Connection and Iron Tower.