Catania, April 10 - A Catania mafia clan was planning to kill journalist Paolo Borrometi to stop his probes into their affairs, a judge said Tuesday. Borrometi, director of the Spia.it website, was described as an "awkward journalist," preliminary investigations judge Giuliana Sammartino said in a warrant that led to the arrest of four people for a dynamite attack on the car of lawyer Adriana Quattropani. The Cappello clan was planning to kill Borrometi at the request of Siracusa boss Salvatore Giuliano, Sammartino wrote in the ordinance. Borrometi has been living under police escort since receiving mafia death threats. </s> (ANSA) - Catania, April 10 - A Catania mafia clan was planning to kill journalist Paolo Borrometi to stop his probes into their affairs, a judge said Tuesday. Borrometi, director of the Spia.it website, was described as an "awkward journalist," preliminary investigations judge Giuliana Sammartino said in a warrant that led to the arrest of four people for a dynamite attack on the car of lawyer Adriana Quattropani.

The Cappello clan was planning to kill Borrometi at the request of Siracusa boss Salvatore Giuliano, Sammartino wrote in the ordinance.

Borrometi has been living under police escort since receiving mafia death threats.

Giuliano was caught on a police wiretap in January asking for Borrometi to be murdered, sources said.

In response, Capello clan member Giuseppe Vizzini was caught on another wiretap on February 20 saying in Sicilian dialect that the journalist "hasn't got long to live".

Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni spoke to the journalist on Tuesday afternoon, voicing solidarity and support with Borrometi.

He said the State was close to him in the daily fight against the mafia and for freedom of information. </s> Catania, April 10 - A Catania mafia clan was planning to kill journalist Paolo Borrometi to stop his probes into their affairs, a judge said Tuesday. Borrometi, director of the Spia.it website, was described as an "awkward journalist," preliminary investigations judge Giuliana Sammartino said in a warrant that led to the arrest of four people for a dynamite attack on the car of lawyer Adriana Quattropani. The Cappello clan was planning to kill Borrometi at the request of Siracusa boss Salvatore Giuliano, Sammartino wrote in the ordinance. Borrometi has been living under police escort since receiving mafia death threats. Giuliano was caught on a police wiretap in January asking for Borrometi to be murdered, sources said. In response, Capello clan member Giuseppe Vizzini was caught on another wiretap on February 20 saying in Sicilian dialect that the journalist "hasn't got long to live". </s> Catania, April 10 - A Catania mafia clan was planning to kill journalist Paolo Borrometi to stop his probes into their affairs, a judge said Tuesday. Borrometi, director of the Spia.it website, was described as an "awkward journalist," preliminary investigations judge Giuliana Sammartino said in a warrant that led to the arrest of four people for a dynamite attack on the car of lawyer Adriana Quattropani. The Cappello clan was planning to kill Borrometi at the request of Siracusa boss Salvatore Giuliano, Sammartino wrote in the ordinance. Borrometi has been living under police escort since receiving mafia death threats. Giuliano was caught on a police wiretap in January asking for Borrometi to be murdered, sources said. In response, Capello clan linked businessman Giuseppe Vizzini was caught on another wiretap on February 20 saying in Sicilian dialect that the journalist "hasn't got long to live". Vizzini was arrested for ordering a bomb to be put in the car of a bankruptcy judge who was about to impound a service area at Pachino near Catania. Vizzini and boss Giuliano "shared a common criminal purpose," said the preliminary investigations judge. The boss was jealous of his reputation and was caught on a wiretap saying "have him killed, what the f*** do you care?". </s> Paolo Borrometi has been living under police protection for four years. Photo: Paolo Borrometi/Facebook

The Sicilian mafia sought to have a journalist killed for his reporting on their activities, investigators said on Tuesday.

While investigating a different assassination attempt, police wiretaps caught members of the Cappello clan, based in Pachino in the deep south of Sicily, discussing plans to murder Paolo Borrometi, editor of anti-mafia investigative website LaSpia.it.

The Cappello boss, Salvatore Giuliano, was first recorded telling his one of his henchmen that Borrometi should be killed in early January, according to the investigating judge's account. Six weeks later, the same henchman was heard to say that the journalist "doesn't have long left".

"We have to get that one," Giuseppe Vizzini told one of his sons. "Bang, on the ground."

READ ALSO: Nearly 200 journalists in Italy are under police protection

In the same conversation, in which he outlined plans for a group of mafiosi to unleash "hell" on Borrometi, Vizzini went on to remark that "you need a body" every so often "to calm everybody down".

Investigators believe the clan was about to organize a violent attack "to eliminate the troublesome journalist", the judge wrote.

It's not the first time that the Cappello clan has attempted to intimidate Borrometi, who has been under police protection for the past four years.

In February a judge ordered Guiliano and his son Gabriele to stand trial for repeatedly threatening the journalist, who has already been to court six times over threats related to his work. The first hearing is scheduled for November.

Meanwhile Vizzini and two of his sons, Simone and Andrea, were arrested on Tuesday in connection with a separate car bombing that targeted a lawyer involved in seizing the assets of a bankrupt company run by Vizzini's wife.

Borrometi has met previous threats with defiance. Last month he addressed his attackers on Facebook, telling them: "Against your threats, our smiles! ... People's smiles will wipe you out for good."

As the latest threats became public, several politicians, as well as media outlets and journalist unions, expressed their solidarity.

"My support and a hug to Paolo Borrometi, victim once more of mafia threats," said Justice Minister Andrea Orlando. "We all owe a lot to those who every day bravely report on the mafia."

Nearly 200 journalists in Italy receive some form of police protection, including 19 who are escorted round the clock.

In February, a reporter in Slovakia was killed along with his partner as he prepared to publish an investigation that alleged high-level ties between members of the Slovak government and the Italian mafia.

Police subsequently arrested several Italian suspects named in his report but released all except one of them, who was arrested on separate drug charges.

READ ALSO: Five ways to fight the Italian mafia </s> Slovakia’s prosecutor general has asked Italian authorities to create a joint investigative team with their Slovakian counterparts in the hunt for the killer of a journalist and his fiance.

Jaromir Ciznar said he expects such an investigation into the fatal shooting of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova would be faster, more thorough and more effective.

Mr Kuciak was reporting on alleged Italian mafia ties to associates of then-prime minister Robert Fico, and corruption scandals linked to his leftist Smer Social Democracy party, when he was shot dead in February. The death sparked political turmoil in Slovakia.

Officials previously said the FBI, Scotland Yard, Europol and police forces from Italy and the Czech Republic are helping with the investigation.

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters rallied across Slovakia on Friday to demand an early election after Mr Fico’s government resigned last week. </s> (Michal Smrcok/News and Media Holding via AP). Policemen guard the entrance to offices of news website Aktuality.sk, the employer of the murdered investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. Slovakia's top polic...

(Michal Smrcok/News and Media Holding via AP). Candles and flowers lay by the entrance to offices of news website Aktuality.sk, the employer of the murdered investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. Slovakia'...

(AP Photo/Bundas Engler). People place light tributes during a silent protest in memory of murdered journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. Investigative journalist Kuciak was sh...

PRAGUE (AP) - Tens of thousands of Slovaks marched in a national rally Friday to honor journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, who were shot dead as Kuciak was working on a story about the influence of the Italian mafia in Slovakia.

In the capital of Bratislava, President Andrej Kiska asked a crowd estimated at 20,000 people to observe a minute of silence for the two, whose bodies were found Sunday in their house in Velka Maca, east of Bratislava.

Similar marches were being held in some 25 towns and cities across the country and in cities abroad, including London, Paris and Brussels.

Alongside the photos of the 27-year-old journalist, protesters displayed banners saying "I am angry," ''Mafia get out of my country," and "An attack on journalists = an attack on us all."

After a peaceful march, some in Bratislava moved to the government office to urge Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico's government to resign.

Earlier Friday, a top anti-Mafia fighter said Italian prosecutors had warned Slovak authorities about "dangerous" infiltration by a powerful Italian organized crime syndicate even before Kuciak was slain.

"We warned authorities in Bratislava, but unfortunately they didn't heed us" about the 'ndrangheta crime syndicate's expansion into Slovakia, Franco Roberti, recently retired as Italy's national anti-Mafia prosecutor, told Italian radio.

"According to my information, it's not true," he said.

On Thursday, Slovak police raided houses linked to the alleged members of the syndicate in connection with the slayings. Seven men were detained in the raids in the eastern Slovak towns of Michalovce and Trebisov.

Roberti said the 'ndrangheta might have killed Kuciak because "there was no other way to silence" him.

He added the "corruption" of local officials plays a big role in the 'ndrangheta's activities abroad.

One of those detained Thursday was Antonino Vadala, an Italian who did business with at least two officials close to Fico, the prime minister. Those two officials resigned Wednesday.

The FBI and Britain's Scotland Yard, along with the Czech and Italian police and Europol, are helping Slovak authorities investigate the killings.

Also Friday, the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders met with Fico and urged him to apologize for insulting journalists. Christophe Deloire deplored what he called the "appalling climate for journalists" created by government leaders in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Fico is known for his numerous attacks on the media.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Slovak police has released seven Italian citizens detained in connection with the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, local media reported Saturday.

Kuciak and his fiancée, both 27, were found dead in their home in Veľká Mača on Sunday. He was investigating links between Italian mafia group ‘Ndrangheta and businessmen in Slovakia at the time of his death. The unfinished story was published online posthumously.

His murder, which marks the first killing of a journalist in Slovakia, was “probably related to his journalistic activity,” the chief of police said earlier this week.

None of the seven suspects arrested this week were charged, according to reports.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 people took the streets across Slovakia on Friday to take part in protest vigils in Kuciak’s memory, with some calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico, BBC reported. </s> BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) - Slovakia's prosecutor general has asked Italian authorities to create a joint investigative team with their Slovak counterparts in the case of the slaying of a journalist and his fiancee that triggered a serious political crisis.

Jaromir Ciznar says he expects such a team's investigation into the slayings of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova would be faster, more complex and more effective.

Kuciak was reporting on alleged Italian mafia ties to associates of then-Prime Minister Robert Fico, and corruption scandals linked to his leftist Smer Social Democracy party.

Candles are placed in memory of slain journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova as Slovaks celebrate the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico and his government as a way out of the political crisis triggered by the slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee, during a rally in Bratislava, Slovakia, Friday, March 16, 2018.(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

The Slovaks previously said the FBI, Britain's Scotland Yard, Europol and police forces from Italy and the Czech Republic are helping with the investigation.

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters rallied across Slovakia Friday to demand an early election.

People celebrate the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico and his government as a way out of the political crisis triggered by the slayings of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, during a rally in Bratislava, Slovakia, Friday, March 16, 2018.(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
An Italian judge says a mafia clan has been plotting the murder of Spia.it journalist Paolo Borrometi. Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni voices his support to the journalist.