Italy dissolve five local councils over mafia infiltration

Five local councils in southern Italy have been dissolved by the government after allegations that their leaders are involved with the local mafia. 

Councillors in five towns in Calabria have been suspended because of issues involving the ‘Ndrangheta crime organisation, one of the richest and most powerful syndicates in Italy. 

This is not the first time councils have been suspended due to links to organised crime, with another 16 local governments dissolved so far in 2017 alone, Italian news reports.

Mafia city: Cassano allo Jonio, one of five Calabrian town councils dissolved; the others being Lamezia Terme, Isola Capo Rizzuto, Marina di Gioiosa Jonica and Petron

Councillors in the southern towns of Lamezia Terme, Cassano all’Ionio, Isola di Capo Rizzuto, Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and Petronà were suspended yesterday, The Local reports.

They are alleged to have allowed the councils to be infiltrated by the ‘Ndrangheta a crime syndicate which in 2013 had an annual turnover of £44bn.

The disbanding of the Calabrian councils came the day before Italy’s new national anti-mafia prosecutor warned that organized crime gangs are increasingly cooperating to control international drug trafficking.

Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho told an anti-mafia conference in Milan that the Italian mafias ‘are not isolated. By now, they move together. 

The ‘Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra, Camorra, also the groups from Puglia’ work together, coordinating, for example, ports they use for heroin and cocaine shipments.

Isola di Capo Rizzuto, and the other four towns are alleged to have allowed the councils to be infiltrated by the 'Ndrangheta mafia which in 2013 had an annual turnover of £44bn

Isola di Capo Rizzuto, and the other four towns are alleged to have allowed the councils to be infiltrated by the ‘Ndrangheta mafia which in 2013 had an annual turnover of £44bn

‘They are able to change the commander on a ship in Panama, and insert their own commander, so the ship can handle a big transport of drugs,’ Cafiero De Raho said, illustrating their reach.

While in southern Italy organized crime ‘occupies the entire territory,’ in the north the mafia is making inroads by entering the real economy by preying on business people in difficulty who accept financial help to keep their business alive, until eventually they are forced out.

Cafiero De Raho urged Italian law enforcement and magistrates to cooperate on exchanging data and other information, saying it was ‘the first step in the strategy’ to defeat organized crime.

Italy’s Finance Minister, Pier Carlo Padoan told the gathering that Italian organized crime finds new opportunities for wealth in new instruments created by the financial industry to evade regulation.

“In these operations, the mafia finds space to profit,” Padoan said. “The velocity with which institutions responds is always insufficient.”

He warned that Brexit could provide new opportunities for the mafia, as financial investments move from London to other European capitals.

“The evolution of the financial geography can attract the criminal world,” he said.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk