A Naples man who played himself in the award winning film "Gomorra" about the Naples mob is among seven men arrested at the weekend on suspicion of Mafia offences.

Bernardino Terracciano, 53, the burly, menacing local boss "Zi' Bernardino" (Uncle Bernardino) in Matteo Garrone's film, is accused of extortion and associating with the Mafia, police said.

Terracciano was arrested during the latest raid in the Caserta area on the Casalesi clan of the Camorra, the Naples Mafia, which is blamed for a gangland attack linked to a turf war over drugs at Castel Volturno in which six African immigrants were gunned down in September.

Gomorra, now on release in Britain, uses local people from Naples' seamier suburbs as well as actors. It won second place at the Cannes Film Festival this year and is Italy's entry for best foreign language film at the forthcoming Oscars. It is based on an expose of the Camorra by the Naples based writer Roberto Saviano, who is under police protection.

The presumed head of the Casalesi clan in Caserta, Giuseppe Setola, remains on the run.

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