The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday that Carabinieri and State police have arrested eight Mafia suspects on its behalf in a bid to “immediately counter the criminal escalation” that started in November in areas of the Sicilian capital controlled by the Tommaso Natale-San Lorenzo clan.

It said the latest incident in this upswing in criminal activist was an attack overnight on a depot belonging to Sicily by Car, which is one of Italy’s biggest car-rental companies and has been targetted by a series of acts of intimidation.

The suspects include people arrested for alleged attempted extortion and attempted murder, aggravated by the use of mafia methods.