Italy's mafia senses their chance in the Corona crisis

The Corona pandemic has plunged the Italian economy into the abyss, and many companies will not survive the crisis. Organized crime, however, rubs its hands. “The Italian mafia can turn threats into opportunities,” said Giuseppe Governale, head of the anti-mafia agency.

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More than 12,000 people have died in Italy as a result of the corona virus, and the third largest economy in the euro zone has been devastated. According to Italian experts, 65 percent of small and medium-sized companies face bankruptcy. Organized crime, however, senses profit.

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“The Mafia Will Make Money With It”

“You just have to look at the portfolio of the mafia groups to see how much they can earn from the pandemic,” said author and mafia expert Roberto Saviano of the La Repubblica newspaper. In the past decades, they have invested in service companies for canteens, cleaning and disinfection, in waste recycling, transport, funeral homes, and in logistics for oil and food.

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“The mafia will make money with it,” says Saviano, recalling the last major epidemic in Italy. When cholera broke out in Naples in 1884, more than half of the population died. The large amount of money that the government spent on cleaning up and rebuilding went straight into the pockets of the Camorra criminal family clan.

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Virus makes fighting crime more difficult

The mafia is already planning carefully for the time when the economy will be rebuilt, investigators also said. “There will be a lot of money in circulation.” His agency is already working on a plan to prevent infiltration of the mafia. «You will look for loopholes in the system. We will have to watch out for suspicious operations, the creation of new companies and bogus companies. »

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At the same time, the epidemic is making the fight against organized crime more difficult. The lawsuits against hundreds of mafia suspects have come to a standstill, says Nicola Gratteri, prosecutor in Calabria, home of the powerful mafia organization ‘Ndrangheta. Since the appearance of the corona virus, only the most urgent processes have continued in Italy.

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“A real danger”

Some also fear rioting instigated by the mafia. The secret service has warned the government of possible unrest in southern Italy if the epicenter should move there, writes the newspaper “La Stampa”.

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Italy’s mafia senses their chance in the Corona crisis

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