(by Massimiliano D'Elia) The other day we were outraged by the contents of the article in a well-known German newspaper The World which titled: "The mafia is waiting for the money that Italy asks the EU".
The bipartisan disappointment towards the German newspaper marked the "choral" response of Italian politicians. Today, Lorenzo Tondo in the English newspaper “The Guardian”, In one of his editorial, spoke of possible mafia infiltrations in the lives of ordinary citizens. He said, according to reports in Italian newspapers, that organized crime is offering support to the population by delivering food packages to their homes. In our country we are used to making every story public for the sake of democracy, even if, in some cases, it would be better to remain silent and act with greater incisiveness to counter a phenomenon that discredits us and that provides an excellent opportunity for the press across the border to support and strengthen their theses on the mafia in Italy.
Not surprisingly yesterday the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on the occasion of the Police Day he said, referring to the agents, their "they contrast the illicit interests of organized crime which attack the freedom of the enterprise and the legality of economic activities".
Il Sole 24Ore today reported the news that the State Police Department has launched a joint control room to monitor the risk of mafia infiltration in active supply chains, such as agri-food, pharmaceutical-health, logistics, but also services funeral homes, cleaning companies, waste disposal. "Sectors, said the Chief of Police, Franco Gabrielli, where a particularly high level of specialization is not required and criminal groups can offer services at definitely competitive prices because the companies they control do not comply with the requirements. It's urgent, specifies Gabrielli. defuse the fuse of the social crisis and get aid allocated for environmental, social security and workplace safety legislation".
The police, writes Il Sole 24 Ore, have therefore intensified the monitoring of social networks because they have noticed that groups are proliferating that advocate the rejection of the rules and the expropriations of the proletariat. There have already been several complaints and many profiles have been closed. But many others reopen. It is said that they are inspired by antagonistic environments, but also similar to former pitchforks.
The phenomenon was covered in full by Lorenzo Tondo on "The Guardian". Tondo detailed that the mafia is handing out free food to poor families who are out of cash. To testify the phenomenon, Tondo specifies, some videos of well-known mafiosi who deliver essential goods to Italians residing in the southern regions, Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia.
"For over a month, shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs have been closed“, Said the anti-mafia prosecutor and chief prosecutor of Catanzaro, Nicola Gratteri. Millions of people who work in the "black" have not received any income for more than a month. Even though the government is distributing food vouchers through municipalities, there is not enough money for families.
The consequences of the blocking of activities in Italy are affecting about 3,3 million people of which over a million live in the south, specifies the CGIA of Mestre.
Tondo writes that, according to sources of the Interior Ministry, in recent days the police of Naples has intensified its presence in the poorest neighborhoods of the city, where men linked to the Camorra organized the delivery of food parcels at home.
The Campania magistrates have also launched an investigation into a group of people who distributed food to local residents. In Palermo, according to La Repubblica, the brother of a Cosa Nostra boss would have distributed food to poor families in the popular Zen district. Tondo then quotes the professor of criminology at the University of Oxford who argues: "Mafias are not just criminal organizations.They are organizations that aspire to govern territories and markets. Analysts often focus on the financial aspect of the mafias but tend to neglect their primary strength which derives from having a strong local base from where they operate."
The issue of the distribution of food parcels is a tactic as old as the mafia itself, where in the south of Italy the leaders have always presented themselves as benefactors and local mediators, initially without asking for anything in return.
"Mafia chiefs regard their cities as their fiefdom", he precised Gratteri. "The leaders know very well that to govern they need to take care of the people on their territory. And they do it by exploiting the situation to their advantage. In people's eyes, a boss who knocks on the door offering free food is a hero. And the boss knows he can count on the support of these families when needed". Tondo, in this regard, stigmatizes: "for example, help will be asked when a politician needs to be supported in the elections".
Tondo then points out that dozens of investigations in southern Italy led to the arrest of politicians who had received aid from the mafia.
"The charitable activities of the mafias are not gifts", Says the professor Varese. "The mafia does nothing by accident. They are favors that everyone will have to repay in one form or another, helping and favoring a fugitive, holding a gun, trading drugs and more.".
CHERRY ON THE CAKE. The ideologist of the 5 Star Movement, Beppe Grillo way back in 2014, he invited foreign MEPs not to favor credit lines for Italy, because of the Mafia.