As Italy tries to pull its economy through the coronavirus crisis, the mafia is gaining local support by distributing free food to poor families in quarantine, who have run out of money.
In recent weeks, videos have surfaced of well-known mafia gangs distributing essential goods to Italians hit hard by the coronavirus emergency in the poorest regions south of Campania, in Calabria, Sicily and Puglia, as tensions rise across the board. place.
" For more than a month, shops, cafes, restaurants and bars have been closed," Nicola Gratteri, an anti-mafia investigator and director of the Catanzaro prosecutor's office, told the Guardian. "Millions of people work in the gray economy, which means they haven't earned more than a month and have no idea when they can get back to work. The government is releasing so-called shopping coupons to support people." If the state does not undertake to help these families soon, the mafia will provide its services, establishing their control over people's lives. "
Rising blockades in Italy are affecting about 3.3 million people working illegally. Of these, more than 1 million live in the south, according to the latest figures from CGIA Mestre, a small business association based in Venice. There have been reports of small shop owners being pressured to provide free food as police patrol supermarkets in some areas to stop the thefts. Videos of people in Sicily protesting against the government's response, or people beating their fists outside banks in Bari for a � 50 (44 £) loan, are going viral and fueling the crisis; a fire that the mafia is more than willing to ignite.
From the first signals of rising social unrest, Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said: "The mafia could take advantage of growing poverty by relocating to recruit people into its organization." Or just get into the distribution of free food parcels of pasta, water, flour and milk.
In recent days, police in Naples have stepped up their presence in the city's poorest neighborhoods, where men linked to the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia, have been distributing food rations at home. The magistrates have already launched an investigation against a group of people who were interrogated while distributing food to local residents.
In Palermo, according to La Repubblica, the brother of a Cosa Nostra boss, he allegedly distributed food to the poor in the Zen neighborhood, an area with a strong mafia presence. When the news broke, the man defended himself on Facebook, claiming he was only doing charity work and attacking the journalist who first reported the news.
"The Mafia is not just a criminal organization, " said Federico Varese, a professor of criminology at Oxford University. "They are organizations that aspire to govern territories and markets. Commentators often focus on the financial aspect of the mafia, but they tend to forget that their strength comes from creating a local base from which to operate."
The issue of distributing food parcels is a tactic as old as the mafia itself, where in southern Italy bosses have presented themselves to the public as charities and local government mediators, initially demanding nothing in return.
" Mafia bosses consider their cities as their territory, " Gratter said. "The bosses know very well that in order to govern, they have to take care of the people in their territory. And they do this by taking advantage of the situation to their advantage. In the eyes of the people, a boss knocks on the door offering free food. he is a hero. And the boss knows that he can then rely on the support of these families when necessary, when, for example, the mafia sponsors an election politician who will continue their criminal interests . "
Dozens of investigations in the south have led to the arrests of politicians who have helped and strengthened the mafia, and who have been elected with the support of local mobsters, who forced citizens to vote for them in exchange for services, such as a simple food plot.
Varese said: â??These mafia handbooks are not gifts. The Mafia does nothing of its kind heart. They are favors that everyone will have to pay in one form or another, helping and strengthening a fugitive, carrying a weapon, taking drugs and the like .
" Consider what happened to El Chapo, the Mexican drug lord , " Gratter said. " He trafficked thousands of tons of cocaine and ordered the killing of hundreds of people, but in his hometown he was known for his kindness, because people said he provided medicine for families or built roads. The same thing happens here ."
This week, Italy's anti-mafia prosecutor's office said the bosses would offer their virtually endless capital to businesses in need, and then swallow them. Then, they will use those businesses for the benefit of money laundering from criminal activities.
Varese said: "The mafia may be able to benefit in other ways from the current blockade and especially from the future, when Italians will be able to get back to work, spend more money and get the economy back on its feet. But surely the story illustrated by the leaflets of food parcels in Palermo and Naples shows their true nature, and that shows why they are so dangerous. "
