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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would like to "strangle" people who write books or made films about the mafia, he told young supporters of his Forza Italia party on Saturday.
"If I find out who is the maker of the nine seasons of 'The Octopus' and who has written books on the mafia, which give such a bad image to Italy across the world, I swear that I will strangle them," he said.
"The Octopus" -- in Italian, "La Piovra" -- was a mafia-themed television series aired on RAI public television from 1984 through 2001.
He went on to dismiss as unfounded and defamatory news reports suggesting he might have been implicated in bomb attacks carried out by the Italian underworld in 1992 and 1993, several Italian news media reported.
Berlusconi was speaking in Sardinia as a prosecutor in Florence denied a newspaper claim that the prime minister has been put under investigation for suspected association with the mafia in relation to the killings.
