The Devil into Heaven — The New Mafia System in Lombardy
INTRODUCTION
Since the birth of Italy, people in Lombardy — and generally in the Northern regions — proudly have claimed that Mafia is a phenomenon belonging only and exclusively to the South, where immorality and weak state structures dominate the civil society. Nevertheless, while Northern people were too busy bragging about their superiority over their Southern fellows, Mafia members were already founding the basis for their new colonies all over Italy. Unfortunately, nowadays the conception that the Mafia is located only in the South is still popular among common people and politicians. Similarly, the same mistake can be tracked in most European countries which believe these organizations are merely an Italian issue.
For decades, Mafia associations have been successfully able to infiltrate civil societies promising power and money to businessmen and politicians. Nevertheless, they didn’t know they were offering their soul to a devil that only makes its interests, a devil that uses people until he consumed all their lifeblood leaving them not even crumbs of their billionaire businesses. Currently, even if there are no certain estimations, Mafia groups gain billions of euros annually and they have expanded their businesses all over the five continents while we are still discussing where this phenomenon is located. Once again, we have witnessed the Devil pulling his best trick:
Convincing the World he didn’t exist.
HOW MAFIA GROUPS INFILTRATED LOMBARDY
Even if it was not entirely directed to tackle Mafia organizations, it is possible to assert that the “Confino” (internment) provision was one of the first anti-Mafia measures enhanced by the Italian state. This order was adopted through the Pica Law of 1863 to fight the brigandage phenomenon and it was extended to Mafia members since they used to behave as brigades, even though they were not properly part of the above-mentioned phenomenon. The law provided for forcibly moving criminals from their hometowns to other cities in Italy. Nevertheless, the Italian state underestimated the ability of Mafia associates to develop relationships with other local criminals and to build new businesses all over the State. The measure was adopted again under the fascist regime and then during the Republic age under the name of “Soggiorno obbligato” (forced staying) in 1965. Besides the “Soggiorno obbligato” measure, the expansion of Mafia associations to the North of Italy was even favorited by the economic boom of Lombardy, Piedmont, and Veneto of the 1950s-1970s period, when millions of people from the South moved to the three regions to find work and fortune.
Consequently, the forced staying, the rapid economic development, and the creation of a new managerial class greedy for money and power in Northern Italy led Mafia groups to expand their businesses in these fertile regions, creating the basis of their current empire.
THE CURRENT SITUATION: MAFIA GROUPS BETWEEN POLICE OPERATIONS AND NEW ALLIANCES
“Tu ricordati: il mondo si divide in due, ciò che è la Calabria e ciò che lo diventerà.”
(Remember: The World is divided into two parts, Calabria and what will become Calabria)
These are the words of a ‘Ndrangheta’s boss to his son intercepted by the police during the “Crimine-Infinito” operation started in 2003. Although in the last fifty years, the police have carried out several actions against all of the three major organized crime groups (namely, Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta, and Cosa Nostra), the “Crimine-infinito” operation is one of the most important. Indeed, after the defeat of Cosa Nostra in the 90s, ‘Ndrangheta —which was not considered a Mafia organization until the 2000s — became the major threat to the Italian state. The operation, which started in 2003 and concluded in 2010 with 300 people arrested (only 90 people were definitively convicted in 2014), revealed a system of more than fifteen “Locali” — the basic organizational structure of the association — headed by the “Crimine”, the supreme body of ‘Ndrangheta (click here to have more information about the hierarchical structure of ‘Ndrangheta).
A similar operation has been carried out in October 2023. Here, police have revealed a new Mafia system in Lombardy, where Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta, and Cosa Nostra cooperate to create a legacy. For a time in history, the three greatest organized crime groups have been systematically working together to divide the incomes and the working fields creating the innovative “sistema mafioso lombardo” (Lombardy Mafia system). According to the investigation, the three associations concluded agreements with entrepreneurs, bankers, and politicians in order to get a continuous flow of money and to impose their will over the territories. Apparently, most of the revenues have been used to support imprisoners and their families. Nevertheless, no other information has been released, and the Magistracy has even questioned the existence of the system (in fact, to the 154 requests for arrest, only 11 people have been arrested). For this reason, at this moment, it is still too early to make any conclusion.
Currently, mafia organizations are involved in numerous fields in North Italy: building, prostitution, waste disposal, gambling, online scams, and extortion, but, in some cities, they even control the fruit and vegetable markets and street vendors. Basically, they try to get access to every field that provides for a secure amount of money. For this reason, the Italian state should be aware of the involvement of organized crime groups in the implementation of projects funded by national or European sources (for example, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan).
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