Warning that Italian Mafia is seeing opportunity in coronavirus pandemic
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The Italian Mafia is gaining new ground by exploiting the economic crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic.
A report by Italy’s anti-mafia investigative department (DIA) showed how the Covid-19 social and economic crisis has given the mafia new opportunities to infiltrate the legal economy.
According to the report, all the main criminal organisations are providing a sort of “alternative welfare system,” replacing the state in areas where growing poverty risks exacerbating tensions and causing social unrest.
Investigators noted that all the mafia organizations – the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta in particular – are set to exploit the coronavirus crisis to further strengthen their role as “global players” on both Italian and international markets.
The worst-hit sectors by the virus outbreak are particularly at risk of mafia infiltration, DIA said. Those include the health system – which was overwhelmed by the pandemic and will now obtain massive financial resources – tourism and restaurant businesses, big infrastructure projects.
The economic paralysis caused by the pandemic could offer mafia organizations “opportunities of enrichment and expansion that are only comparable to post-war periods,” the report said.
