Mafia organizations including the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra taken together have become the country’s ‘largest bank,’ with €65 billion (US$ 82.7) in liquidity, according to the report.
“In this moment of crisis, the ‘Mafia SpA’ [Italian for ‘Mafia Incorporated’] is the only entrepreneurial group which can make investments,” said Marco Venturi, president of Conferescenti, Italy’s largest association of business owners.
SOS Impresa estimates that the organized crime syndicates account for €100 billion in the commercial sector, or 7 percent of Italy’s gross domestic product.
Venturi said that for many businesses, cooperation with the mafia “can make the difference between being able to continue operating or exiting the market on a permanent basis.”
He also raised alarm about movement of the organized crime groups from their traditional southern strongholds into more economically developed northern cities, and of their entry into markets they traditionally shied away from, like healthcare and transport.
He lamented that they are still involved in the highly profitable waste disposal industry.
The price of fruits and vegetables has tripled in recent months, a cost Italy’s largest farmers’ association Coldiretti also attributes to organized crime involvement.
