The time of the “mafiavirus”: the Italian mafias, big beneficiaries of the coronavirus crisis

A survey known this weekend confirms the general feeling that the mafias are the main beneficiaries of the economic and social disaster caused by the coronavirus epidemic which began on February 21 and which in the coming days will reach 50,000 deaths. 70% of Italians think mafia organizations have gained more power than ever. Priest Luigi Ciotti, founder of Libera and famous social fighter, says what he calls “mafiavirus” is taking full advantage of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

With his gigantic liquidity and its organization, attentive to take advantage of crises, penetrates social sectors, in particular businesses and families, weakened and disoriented by the devastating consequences of the consequences of the fight against Covid-19. The pandemic has largely undermined productive activity, causing loss of income of several million dollars and creating a climate of insecurity and fear that weakens society.

The deterioration in the standard of living of millions of Italians creates the conditions for a further spread of the mafias from their strongholds in southern Italy, especially the ndranghetta in Calabria, the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra. For decades, the clans were firmly established in a long process in the prosperous and industrialized north of the country.

The loan to usury, practiced by mafia “families”, is only one of the sources of enrichment and power. As has happened in other crises, the spaces have widened “ad infinitum” in the conquest of control of companies and enterprises thanks to its gigantic financial liquidity. The system offers extraordinary opportunities with the plans of the European Union Recovery Fund, which will rain in Italy 209 billion euros90,000 in the form of non-repayable grants and the rest in the form of loans with very low interest rates and very long payment terms.

Italy will face the crisis thanks to these mountains of money, with plans that include a lot of public works and support for companies, an area in which the mafias operate with a lot of experience and flexibility.

The opportunities for large criminal organizations are unique. The “Demos” investigation for Libera, the organization led by Father Ciotti, underscores the conviction of the vast majority of Italians that corruption is spreading even more, facilitating the increase in the presence of the Mafias. The phenomenon is particularly spectacular in the north-west of Italy, in highly developed regions such as Lombardy (the capital Milan), Piedmont (Turin) and Liguria (Genoa), where the phenomenon of Mafia infiltration is the more acute. We must add a very important region like Emilia Romagna, in the center-north.

The action of the mafias finds a large field in corruption that in most areas the health sector is suffering which due to the pandemic is consuming tremendous resources at this stage. In the south the phenomenon is very consolidated. One case is that of Calabria, where half of the regional budget finances the health sector.

The response of the state apparatus to hamper mafia action has so far been based on bans and orders from the prefects (representatives of central power), which are developing rapidly. Nearly 1,500 of these measures have already been taken, which do not respond to crimes but are preventive procedures which deny the company in question participation in public contracts and its relations with the public administration.

In the past four months, when aid from the Rome government started pouring in to businesses, bans on curb the infiltration of the mafia. “We will closely monitor the distribution of funds, especially in the hands of those who arrive,” Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgenesa warned.

Only in Frosinone, in the Lazio region, with capital in Rome, the prefect Ignazio Portelli, has already issued three bans last month in a company of materials for energy, another of fuels and another of automobile transport, where contacts with exhibitors of the mafias sounded the alarm.

Currently, half a dozen bans are registered every day to put an end to mafia attacks on the legal economy and the increasing flows of public funds from state aid. The crisis shattered the debt collection. Coping with the pandemic has forced the Italian state to increase the deficit by ten percent of gross domestic product. In money, this means that more than a hundred billion euros have been spent on the payment of lost wages in companies in crisis, to those who work in bars, restaurants and other places. You also need to help business leaders and struggling businesses.

This fantastic movement of resources is stimulating the appetite of the mafias. Three thousand investigations have been opened before the courts which represent as many cases of commercial property crossings and other operations in which the magistrates believe they see the hand of the godfathers of the clans.

Organized crime knows how to quickly adapt its production capacity to the market. Catering, tourism and hotel sector, agrifood sector, mass distribution, construction, private health is in great development and according to police and judicial investigators, there are signs of mafia activity in the market for drugs, machinery and health tools, owned by private clinics. And also in the multibillion dollar vaccine trade, which is placed at the center of attention of governments and naturally of the Mafias.

A particularly rich area is self-recycling, in which the Calabrian mafia is particularly active thanks to its enormous liquidity of the global cocaine trafficking. Dirty money washing machines have increased by 25% in recent months, researchers say. Controlling more and more legal activities serves the purpose of self-recycling brilliantly.

Rome, correspondent