Italy's anti-Mafia fighters fear wiretap bill

Italy's prosecutors who fight mobsters have gotten an indirect boost from a U.S. justice official in their campaign against an anti-wiretap bill being pushed by Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who oversees the Justice Department's criminal division, declined to directly comment on proposed Italian legislation that would tighten restrictions on electronic eavesdropping and stiffen fines for publishing wiretap transcripts from ongoing investigations.

But Breuer said Friday in Rome that U.S. prosecutors don't want anything done that would stop the flow of helpful information from Italian prosecutors.

Sicilian prosecutors say the bill would make it nearly impossible to catch fugitive mobsters or discover their crimes.