MILAN, ITALY — For a man who was pronounced politically, and almost literally, dead just a few years ago, Umberto Bossi has made a remarkable comeback.
The head of a small xenophobic political party, Bossi has emerged as Italy's kingmaker, the power player who was key in returning Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to office in recent elections and who will continue to call many of the shots.
That victory last month, which included the election of Rome's first right-wing mayor since World War II and the stiffest rejection ever of communists, was part of a significant shift in favor of the Italian political right, composed of restyled former Fascists, anti-immigrant forces and traditional conservatives.
Bossi and three other members of his Northern League party were given choice seats in the new Cabinet, including control of the Interior Ministry, which oversees police and most domestic security.
In this climate, it came as little surprise that the government's first action has been a harsh police crackdown on the Rom, an oft-targeted minority also known as Gypsies.
Bossi and the Northern League are widely seen here as the moving force behind the decision to target Gypsies and illegal immigrants, two groups blamed for a rash of recent crimes. Hundreds of Rom and foreigners were arrested, scores deported, and ramshackle Gypsy camps razed or burned to the ground by either authorities or vigilantes.
"All Gypsies must go," the league's Davide Boni, an official in the Lombardy regional government, said in an interview in his office in Milan.
The league, which is based in Lombardy, would add most Romanians and Muslim immigrants to the list, Boni said. Overall, he said, the party advocates reducing immigration to between 5% and 10% of its current level. "That way, you have immigration and integration," he said. "What you have now is invasion."
The league and its right-wing partners, including Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, were able to capitalize on Italian fears about and prejudices toward the foreign-born, sentiments that are intensifying as the number of new arrivals grows and the economy plunges into recession. Their electoral victory also reflected a deep-seated admiration among many Italians for the kind of populist demagoguery that Berlusconi and Bossi represent.
Italy is a relatively conservative society, and the right, which most vociferously espouses traditional values, generally does well in politics.
