Federico Cafiero de Raho: "There are investigations in Italy on mafias who act in Argentina"

Italian director Antimafia said that an organization and an extensive database are needed to fight organized crime and money laundering; the expert spoke to Congress and suggested sharing information

Federico Cafiero de Raho is the director Antimafia of

Italy

, a country with a long tradition of fighting organized crime. Although during the four days of visiting Argentina, he was almost always inside the Congress, the Italian leader was escorted by several members of his country's security forces, even at the time of the visit. Interview that he granted to LA NACION. The few times he went through Buenos Aires were aboard armored cars.

Cafiero De Raho, 67, has taken maximum responsibility for fighting the mafias in 2017 after a long prosecutorial career, both in his hometown of Naples, and in the Reggio Calabria region, birthplace of the mafia Ndrangheta. He is facing the adrenaline of organized crime on a daily basis, but he is still as enthusiastic when he explains how the database that gathers all the crimes of Italian gangsters works. Move your hands as it 's been a bouncer in which you will never fail to enter sensitive information.

"Argentina's big problem is that the nation and the provinces do not share a common information system on the mafias," said the Italian official, who arrived in the country to participate in the anti-mafia seminar Italian-Argentine organized by the national deputy Fernando Churches (change).

-How do you deal with mafias?

The mafias are fighting primarily with the organization. In Italy, we have created the Anti-Mafia Directorate, which coordinates the information of the 26 districts covering the whole country. This gives impetus to the fight against organized crime because various security structures, such as the Carabinieri and a judicial police, join this structure, which is very well trained and is responsible for a good part of the investigations.

– In what situation is Argentina?

– They work hard, but there is probably a lot to do. In fact, we have joint research between Italy and Argentina. The problem is that they have a very large territory and in Latin America, many criminal gangs know very well how to hide their gains to integrate them into the formal economy, which makes their struggle difficult.

– Are there any operations or links of the Italian mafia in Argentina?

-The only thing I can say is that investigations are ongoing in Italy on mafias that are active in Argentina and other countries in the region.

– What could our country copy from the Italian model?

-The great problem of Argentina is that the nation and the provinces do not share a common information system on mafias. There is no body to centralize information and coordinate policies on criminal gangs. This country has a very large territory, so it is not possible to see everything in Buenos Aires and it is not possible either that the provinces are fighting against their mafias without knowing their relations in Buenos Aires and without the support of Central State.

-But for that the political will of the parties is necessary …

-The politics must be left aside in the fight against the mafias. Authorities need to be connected because the mafia organizations do not operate in one province of Argentina, but in many at once.

– How are they doing in Italy?

-The Anti-Mafia Branch is a database containing information from all districts. Prosecutors in all 26 provinces have an obligation to send all their data as soon as an investigation starts to inform me. It happens every day. This database has existed since 1992 and retains all anti-mafia procedures.

– Is it possible to apply this here?

-Yes of course. In Argentina, it would be very important to unify all the data to create a similar system so that each local prosecutor can know what is happening about the perpetrators and can inform – without providing secret information – that it investigates , and thus interact with other prosecutors in the country. . When there are several working on the same group, the Anti-Mafia Branch intervenes to put them in contact and, if the parties agree, coordinate the investigation.

-What happens when officials or members of the judiciary are accomplices of the mafia?

-You must take quick test measurements. If there is suspicion about a judge, for example, he must be changed district during the investigation. It is best to make the investigation public as soon as possible so that society can check that the measures taken are correct. Same thing when they are parliamentary with privileges: we have to move forward as fast as possible.

-What are the advantages of a charge system in which the investigation is in the hands of prosecutors?

Until 1989, we had the same system as Argentina, whose judges are at the helm. We were afraid to change the way we worked, but realized that we were working better with this new system. In this way, prosecutors can say when and how to make their inquiries public, but they can also proceed to the production of secret essays, which is a considerable advantage.

– What role do the intelligence services play in the fight against the mafias?

-The Anti-Mafia Directorate does not use the intelligence services. Nor does he maintain a working relationship with the Italian intelligence services. You can never badign them tasks because they are totally separate domains. We work directly with a judicial police, which is responsible, for example, for telephone calls and field work.