The book “Le mani sulla città” (hands on the city) written by two journalists of “Il Fatto Quotidiano”, Barbacello and Milosa, tries to enter one of Italy’s darkest side: ‘Ndrangheta infiltration in Milan, and in the North of Italy in general. Ndrangheta is the Calabria’s Mafia and currently the strongest criminal organization of the country that can count on a well-structured military organization and almost complete territorial control in many areas of Calabria. Its emerging power is also rooted in the profits deriving from cocaine trafficking and from various decades of direct relations with Colombian Mafias and with Salvatore Mancuso, former head of Colombian extreme right-wing self-defense groups (AUC) whose father was originally from Calabria.
Its organization does not resemble that of other Italian mafias. Mirroring Latin American criminal organizations, it seems closer to a cartel, or a sort of federation of clans. Groups of families work together on extended territories with larger military and financial autonomy operating with a number of controlled firms and following a code of conduct or an ethics of business, which impinges on shared roots: traditional values, respect and loyalty. ‘Ndrangheta soon managed to control the best quality cocaine coming to Italy and the capitals accumulated have easily found their way into Italian official economy. According to the two journalists, Milan, the Italian business capital, has become also ‘Ndrangheta new capital.
A few numbers will clarify the importance of the phenomenon under discussion. Following Mexican Journalist Rodriguez, in 2007-2008 data confirmed that ‘Ndrangheta’s profits were equal to those of 4 Mexican cartels together, the Sinaloa, Juarez, Tijuana, and the Gulf with 44.000 millions of Euro. World famous drug traffickers such as Colombian Pablo Escobar or the Mexican ‘El Chapo’ Guzman never reached these sums. ‘Ndrangheta is a criminal firm which has the numbers of a multinational company and more than a half of its profits come from drug trafficking. In the years under consideration in Milan cocaine consume increased of 27%, in 2010 of 40%. Today in Milan one out of six people snore cocaine in a market of addiction, which simply does not stop.
Barbacello and Milosa present how “i picciotti” (Ndrangheta’s member) progressively entered Milan and started doing businesses with a network of ‘friends’ belonging to the city high bourgeoisie. They explain the way they have built relationships with local administrations obtaining contract in exchange for votes participating in the political campaigns of the center-right coalition (PDL). The book reports the names of important politicians listed in the Public Prosecutor’s, Ilda Boccassini, and Anti-Mafia’s files; among them, also Italian former Defense Minister, La Russa and some of his family members, but also Marcello Dell’Utri, Forza Italia member, later condemned to 7 years in jail for Mafia links. No evidence was found instead to incriminate La Russa.
In the book it is highlighted that Milan former Mayor, Letizia Moratti, together with current Regional President, Roberto Formigoni, both belonging to PDL, have always officially denied Mafia infiltration in Lombardia, or denounced it only as a non systemic presence. Anti-Mafia Public Prosecutors consider instead these type of denials as potentially dangerous because they somehow automatically create the conditions for such infiltrations. In fact, these organizations do not aim at substituting institutional powers or to control them. They rather prefer to negotiate political and economical spaces. Ultimately these criminal organizations are interested in profits and well fit with other unscrupulous entrepreneurs who do not have links with armed groups but need capitals. This allows Mafia organizations to silently enter the economic and financial structures of a city such as Milan. Proof of this is the confirmed involvement of ‘Ndrangheta in the construction works of High Speed railway Lines (TAV) in Lombardia, of the highway Milan-Venice and its involvement in public contracts for the Milan Expo 2015. All of these cases are well reported in the book.
Recent election of Giuliano Pisapia from Left Ecology and Freedom party as Milan Mayor seems to have changed institutional attitude toward this situation. The City Council now has an internal Anti-Mafia committee, which will respond politically to this new emergency. On the 13th of February February, with the presence of Interior Minister Cancellieri, the committee approved an anti-mafia protocol, which will create strict criteria for private firms to participate to city tenders for the construction and the modernization of buildings of Milan 2015 Expo. These criteria aim at improving controls over firms to avoid any type of Mafia infiltration in public contracts. Moreover, However the No Expo 2015 committee believes that these measures will not be enough to contain ’Ndrangheta abuses of public funds. During epochs of economic downturns such as the one we are living in – activists continue – the “hunger for capitals” eases financial controls of also apparently clean firms.
Nonetheless, very recently, following the wave of cold weather that affected Italy, the City Council decided to allocate for a few nights the infamous “For a King” night club to 40 homeless people. The Morabito family opened this night club in the top floor of the building owned by a public company, Sogemi. It soon became the icon of ‘Ndrangheta infiltration in the city, Milan, in the heart of the firm that controls the fruit and vegetable vegetables market of Milan. the city. Its symbolic use as shelter for homeless people was generally regarded as commitment of the local administration to fight Mafias.
Sources
- [it] Barbacello G., Milosa D., 2011, Le mani sulla citta’, Chiare Lettere Editore, Milano
- [es] Rodriguez C.,2009, Contacto en Italia: el pacto entre los Zetas y la ‘Ndrangheta, Debate, Ciudad de Mexico
- text [it] Linkiesta.it
- text [it] Il Corriere della sera
- text [it] Il fatto quotidiano
- text [it] Notav.eu about ‘Ndrangheta in Piemonte
