Rome  - Italian police arrested five men Monday - including the mayors of two towns - in raids targeting attempts by the Calabrian mafia, the 'Ngrangheta, to infiltrate local goverment.

The suspended mayor of the southern port city of Gioia Tauro, Giorgio Dal Torrione, his deputy, Rosario Schiavone, and Carlo Martelli, the mayor of another Calabrian town, Rosarno, were taken into custody in the morning bust.

"The local officials are suspected of favouring mafia attempts to control public tender contracts," Reggio Calabria police flying squad chief, Renato Cortese, told television news channel, SkyTG24.

In April, the Italian government dissolved the Gioa Tauro municipal authority after what it said were attempts by organized crime to condition activities related to the city's port.

Also arrested Monday is a suspected high-ranking mobster, Gioacchino Piromalli, and a nephew, who shares his uncle's name and surname.

Much less known than Sicily's notorious Cosa Nostra, the 'Ndrangheta has grown in recent years, expanding its criminal activities beyond its heartland in Calabria - the "toe" of boot-shaped Italy - to as far afield as North and South American and Australia. (dpa)