Italian anti-mafia prosecutor says mafias now co-operating
MILAN — Italy’s new national anti-mafia prosecutor said Thursday that Italian organized crime gangs are increasingly co-operating to control international drug trafficking.
Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho told an anti-mafia conference in Milan that the Italian mafias “are not isolated. By now, they move together. The ‘ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra, Camorra, also the groups from Puglia” work together, co-ordinating, for example, ports they use for heroin and cocaine shipments.
“They are able to change the commander on a ship in Panama, and insert their own commander, so the ship can handle a big transport of drugs,” Cafiero De Raho said, illustrating their reach.
While in southern Italy organized crime “occupies the entire territory,” in the north the mafia is making inroads by entering the real economy by preying on business people in difficulty who accept financial help to keep their business alive, until eventually they are forced out.