A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Serious Risk of Mafia Infiltration in Europe

Gruppo EveryOne | 28.11.2009 10:14 | Culture | History | World

... Investigations into connivance with the three Mafia organizations, Cosa Nostra, ’Ndrangheta and the Camorra, involve people in top positions in the state, local authorities and public bodies ...

Paolo Borsellino

Serious Risk of Mafia Infiltration in Europe

by Alfred Breitman

Palermo. November 27, 2009. Italy is rife with widespread Mafia activity which is branching out into the European Union and spreading like a disease to the rest of the world. It is a phenomenon involving billions of dollars annually which has now insinuated its way into every sector of Italian society. Investigations into connivance with the three Mafia organizations, Cosa Nostra, ’Ndrangheta and the Camorra, involve people in top positions in the state, local authorities and public bodies. At the same time the Italian Parliament and Government approve – due to irresponsibility, fear or something else – laws that encourage or facilitate the illegal activities of organized crime. Telephone interceptions (effective tools in the fight against the Mafia) have been suspended; the return to Italy of huge sums of money of dubious origin (which was previously lying in foreign banks) has been allowed - even the property confiscated from the Mafia by the state returns to the clans with ease thanks to the “public auctions”. In the meantime those who decide to collaborate with the magistrates are delegitimized when they mention the names of government ministers, MPs, senators and local administrators, while those reporting reprehensible actions carried out by politicians are intimidated, assaulted and even murdered. Every so often the arrests of Mafia bosses who have fallen into disgrace convince public opinion that the state is doing its best to combat the Mafia. The Milan Expo, the rebuilding of L’Aquila after the earthquake, the “great construction projects” are conquered lands for the Mafia. At the same time Italy stands in first place in Europe for the trafficking of cocaine and other drugs. The TV channels, newspapers and journals are afraid to discuss or write openly about the relationship between Mafia and politics. It is the same censorship that blocked the famous interview that Judge Paolo Borsellino gave in 1992 to the journalists Jean Pierre Moscardo and Fabrizio Calvi, in which he speaks quite openly about the relationship between Mafia and politics. Even today the Mafia “pentiti” (the “collaborators with justice”) give precise names when reconstructing the events surrounding the 1992 murders, and when speaking of the political protection offered to the Mafia over the years - and some of these names reach the highest positions of Italian Government and politics. Today’s situation is even worse and the connivance between the Mafia and politics is now inextricable. The TV channels, newspapers and journals are almost entirely controlled by political parties. Unfortunately, the links between the Mafia and politics do not only involve the Centre-Left, it has supporters in the ranks of the opposition, too.

It is sufficient to associate the names of top Italian politicians to the word “Mafia” and carry out a search on Google to understand the range and level of this phenomenon. This synergy between Mafia and politics, (which courageous magistrates and the healthier side of the institutions are attempting to thwart) is poisoning every sector of Italian society and is at the root, among other things, of the wave of racism that is rife in Italy. By diverting the attention of the magistracy and the police force to the “Immigrant-Enemy” and the “Roma-Enemy” (achieved by spreading social alarm in the media against the Roma people and immigrants) those in power, who are practically permanently damaged by corruption, are aiding and indeed encouraging widespread illegal activities.

We must not deceive ourselves that this cancer is only eating away at Italy, because the billions of Euros owned by the Mafia buy up land and companies, corrupting and controlling not only Romania and the more vulnerable nations, but also the industrialized countries where the Mafia strikes up alliances with the local organized crime. To those who are wondering if the Mafia has already taken root in the European institutions, we suggest you carry out another search on Google or any other web search engine. The European Union has to defend itself from Mafia power and influence by setting up efficient organisms, and making the most of the testimonies of Mafia “pentiti”. It should encourage the collaboration of former Mafia members with European justice; activate efficient environmental and telephonic interceptions; control the exaggerated flow of capital towards real estate, swollen property prices and ambiguous projects in order to avoid (as the hero magistrate, Paolo Borsellino suggested) assigning official roles and positions within the EU to politicians under investigation for Mafia connivance. Only in this way may we prevent the uncontrolled spread of an evil that could do irreparable damage to the healthy sectors of the European Union before we even have time to realise it.

*