Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has told supporters he would like to "strangle" people who write books or make films about the mafia.

"If I find out who is the maker of the nine seasons of 'The Octopus' and who has written books on the mafia, which gives such a bad image to Italy across the world, I swear that I will strangle them," he told young supporters of his Forza Italia party on Saturday, AFP reported.

"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 reports suggesting he might have been implicated in bomb attacks carried out by the Italian underworld in 1992 and 1993, several Italian media outlets reported.

On Saturday, a court said that Berlusconi is not being investigated in connection with a mafia bomb attack in Florence in 1993, after reports that he was being probed on the evidence of a mobster turned witness.

With the Italian media buzzing with reports that Berlusconi and an associate will be linked to the mafia by a mob informant in open court on December 4, the prime minister's spokesman has also denied that Berlusconi is being probed.

Five people died in the Florence car-bombing, carried out by the mafia as part of a campaign to scare the state into relaxing the harsh prison terms imposed on convicted mobsters.

SG/SS/HGL