Mafia in 'plot to get Clooney'

George Clooney's new movie Ocean's Twelve was targeted by two Mafia "godmothers" in a protection racket, police have revealed.

Antonella Di Graziano, 45, and Rosa Fiordilillo, 51, took over the running of the crime family when their Mafia mobster husbands were jailed.

A massive operation against their organisation was mounted after informers told officers of possible arson attacks on production trucks and the set in order to intimidate the product ion company, Warner Brothers.

Today the women and 21 other people were in custody as part of Operation Tempest. Police revealed the women had targeted Clooney's blockbuster movie when it was being filmed at a secluded beach near Trapani in Sicily last week.

A police spokesman at Trapani said: "When the production set arrived, it was right in the middle of territory controlled by Antonella and Rosa.

"It was common knowledge the film was going to be shot near Trapani and local firms involved were targeted and ordered to hand over protection.

"They [Di Graziano and Fiordilillo] were responsible for extortion and protection and people who didn't pay were threatened and subjected to bomb attacks." One officer said: "The area around Trapani has been the territory of this particular clan for years. They have connections with the American mafia and we were informed they planned to extort a pizzo (piece of cash) from the movie producers when they were filming in Sicily.

"There were concerns the Mafia would try and steal some of the film equipment and they were also fears of firebomb attacks - this is a particular speciality of this crime f a m i l y . While filming was going on we had undercover officers on the set watching out for these people. They had managed to get on set but they did not carry out any attacks."

Today both women are in a high- security prison on charges of Mafia association.

Fiordilillo ' s husband Giocchino is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted of six Mafia murders in

1993. Di Graziano's husband Francesco was arrested by police last month after going on the run.

Last night no one was available for comment at the Rome office of Warner Brothers and filming had moved on to the US.

Ocean's Twelve, starring Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Catherine Zeta-Jones, opens in December.