Rome, 3 Nov. (AKI) - Almost three-quarters of Italians think Naples prosecutors were right to post to the Internet a shocking video of a mafia murder, according to an interactive poll carried out by Sky Tg24. Just 28 percent of people surveyed agreed with Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni that prosecutors were wrong to do so and should only have released a photo of the killing.

Prosecutors last week released the video to Italian media in the hope that witnesses would come forward to identify the mafia killer and his suspected accomplices.

The killer, who was not named in press reports was last weekend identified as a man from the Naples mafia stronghold of Secondigliano, who has a criminal record and is currently on the run.

In the video, the killer shoots 53-year-old Mariano Bacioterracino in the head and finishes him off as he lies dying on the pavement outside a Naples bar. As people look on the hit man smiles and makes the cuckold sign with his left hand, possibly to an accomplice, before walking off.

Chief Naples prosecutor Giandomenico Lepore defended his decision to release the video. "It was the right thing to do, it broke the wall of silence," he said.

Bacioterracino served ten years in jail for his role in a kidnapping in the 1970s and has allegedly carried out bank robberies since his release. But his family claim he was not a mafia member.

Bacioterracino reportedly had a liaison with the girlfriend of a jailed mafia member and investigators are also probing the possibility that he ordered Bacioterracino's murder.