The arrest of Mr Zagaria, 53, whose Casalesi clan was the most powerful of all the Camorristi, could not come at a better time for many Italians, for whom the Mob's enduring power is a symptom of the same malaise in public life that has also brought the Eurozone crisis and the demise of Mr Berlusconi, who faces court himself over the "bunga bunga" affair. Interior minister Annamaria Cancellieri hailed it as a "huge success for the state" – not words any Italian politician has had much cause to use recently – while Mario Monti, the newly-installed "technocrat" prime minister, described it as a "beautiful day for all honest people".