“The State has the duty to attack criminal economies but it is not always attentive and often it is not even urged by entrepreneurs, who do not realize – due to a lack of intelligence or because it is convenient – that these businesses that produce large profits represent the death of the economic and productive fabric. The single operator thinks he is smarter but, in the long term, if the fabric dies, the country dies too. It must therefore be in the interest of the business class to understand that respecting the law is the only way to have a healthier market and society." This was stated by the president of the Anti-Mafia Commission, Nicola Morra, speaking on the first day of the Ucsi Summer School – the school of investigative journalism promoted by the Italian Catholic Press Union of Caserta and the public agency for legality Agrorinasce, in collaboration with the Campania Order of Journalists. The meeting, scheduled from today to September 15, took place in Casal di Principe at Villa Liberazione, formerly known as “Villa Scarface”, a property confiscated from the brother of the Casalesi clan leader, Walter Schiavone. “We are in a Summer School on investigative journalism – Morra underlined – and, on the information side, this country has enormous problems. I come from a city where a daily newspaper was not published so as not to give someone unwelcome news. I come from an area where a young reporter committed suicide after probable pressure in his work. I come from a region where, depending on the purchase of advertising space by local authorities, the editorial line of the newspaper can change, and this disgusts me. My master is the heart and the brain when I seek the truth but if then some news are systematically hidden because they cannot be written, then the responsibility also lies with those who have the duty to provide information". “Getting to the heart of the matter, we must fight the mafias led by very refined minds, as Falcone said. In 2014, the 'ndrangheta was already using Bitcoin to purchase large quantities of cocaine, and where were we? 'Ndrangheta, Camorra and Mafia represent the weakness, fragility and complicity of the institutions and the men who represent them in the territories”. “Yesterday – MORRA recalled – I called the president of Confindustria Boccia, warning him that I would not be going to the 2019 Assembly scheduled in Cosenza on the occasion of the handover between the old and new president of the local industrialists' association. Why should I have participated with my current mayor, who aspires to be the candidate for the presidency of the Region but is barred from office and under investigation, and with the governor of Calabria who is involved in other matters? I have difficulty and I do not sit with subjects who are not only under investigation but also prescribed, and have a request for referral to trial hanging over their heads. If this is not a problem for Confindustria, I take note of it. The real problem is that the productive fabric is no longer able to understand that you are either with black or with white, because you don't joke with black." "This," the president of the Anti-Mafia Commission concluded, "is a country where, for cultural reasons, there is a certain indulgence, which unfortunately has become a daily occurrence."
The alarm about the phenomenon of criminal economies, the evolution of mafia organizations and cryptocurrencies starts from Casal di Principe (Caserta), an area committed to the front line in the fight against organized crime.
An ambitious challenge launched by the Ucsi Summer School, the school of investigative journalism promoted by the Italian Catholic Press Union of Caserta and the public agency for legality Agrorinasce, in collaboration with the Campania Order of Journalists.
The fifth edition, entitled “Our Bisinissi – Criminal Economies / Gli Affari Nostri – Economie Criminali”, is scheduled from 13 to 15 September at Villa Liberazione (in via Angiolieri), formerly known as “Villa Scarface”, a property confiscated from the brother of the Casalesi clan leader, Walter Schiavone, currently managed by ASL Caserta which has created a day centre for mental health.
The mafias, therefore, are increasingly transforming into economic crimes and, to understand the phenomenon even better, just look at the latest reports: the criminal economy is worth 30% of the official economy of the province of Caserta; the mafia economy in Italy is able to erode 15% of the GDP per capita; the leading "products" are drugs, the exploitation of prostitution and extortion, which bring in almost 20 billion euros every year (cigarette smuggling, usury and waste trafficking are also included in the budget). And not only that.
Organized crime records approximately 150 billion euros in revenues and, against just over 35 billion in costs, has profits of over 100 billion. Truly alarming numbers that even surpass those of some European energy giants.
Agrorinasce – Agency for innovation, development and security of the territory, is a consortium company with entirely public capital constituted by 6 Municipalities (Casal di Principe, Casapesenna, S. Cipriano d'Aversa, Villa Literno, S. Marcellino and S. Maria La Fossa) with the aim of strengthening legality in an area with a high crime density, which hosts 156 properties confiscated from the Camorra involved in recovery actions for social and public use, of which 141 are financed by the Ministry of the Interior, Fondazione con il Sud, Ministry for the SOUTH/CIPE, Campania Region, Presidency of the Council of Ministers (Department of Youth and Equal Opportunities), Ministry of the Environment, Agrorinasce (Member Municipalities and Social Cooperatives) and Fondazione Vodafone.
The seminars will also include a comparison between the two most important public bodies in Italy – the Consortiums “Agrorinasce” in Campania and “Sviluppo e legalità” in Sicily – the Campania Region and the National Agency for the Administration and Destination of Assets Confiscated from the Mafia.
"In such a context - says Giovanni Allucci, administrator of Agrorinasce - we thought it was important to offer journalists a stable moment of comparison and updating with investigators and magistrates. The theme that is closest to our hearts is the recovery and valorization of assets confiscated from the Camorra, not only for the symbolic signal in the fight against the mafia, but also for the social and economic implications".
The 2019 Summer School will go beyond national borders and will be able to count on the presence of many internationally renowned experts and journalists. Present in Casal di Principe, among others, the president of the Anti-Mafia Commission, Nicola Morra; the commander of the DIA, General Giuseppe Governale; the deputy prosecutor of the DDA Reggio Calabria, Gaetano Paci; the prosecutor of the Republic of Naples, Giovanni Melillo; the president of “Svimez”, Adriano Giannola; the head of the “Economics” editorial staff of the Corriere della Sera, Nicola Saldutti; General Umberto Rapetto, former commander of the Telematic Fraud Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, Privacy Authority of the Republic of San Marino; Senator Pietro Grasso, former national Anti-Mafia prosecutor; the director of the National Transplant Center, Massimo Cardillo; Senator Rosaria Capacchione; the eyewitness of the murder of Don Giuseppe Diana, Augusto Di Meo; MEP Franco Roberti, former national Anti-Mafia prosecutor; the mayor of Corleone Nicolò Nicolosi, president of the Consortium “Development and Legality”; the director of the National Agency for the Administration and Destination of Assets Seized and Confiscated from Organized Crime, the pref Bruno Frattasi; the deputy prosecutor of the Naples DDA, Alessandro D'Alessio; Giacomo Di Gennaro, Federico II University of Naples, curator of the “Crime Report on Large Italian Urban Areas”; the writer and journalist Sergio Nazzaro.
As in previous editions, 10 scholarships were awarded to young journalists, precarious or unemployed. The properties confiscated from the Camorra will be used for training, catering and hospitality activities.
Melito Case, Former President of the Anti-Mafia Commission Nicola Morra Lashes Out Against the Prefect of Naples Claudio Palomba
Melito - The mayor has been arrested, and former Anti-Mafia Commission President Nicola Morra has lashed out at Naples Prefect Claudio Palomba. The election was tainted, influenced by a Camorra clan that twice—in the same election—moved and plotted to place its own contacts in the...
Arzano, deputy commander of the fire brigade sentenced: Nicola Morra protests with the administration
Arzano – Deputy fire marshal convicted: the president of the parliamentary anti-mafia commission, Nicola Morra, denounces the administration led by Mayor Vincenza Aruta's failure to comply with the law. At yesterday's press conference at Palazzo Madama, Senator Morra, along with the president of the National Anti-Mafia Authority (ANAC), Giuseppe Busia, presented the report on the dissolved municipalities...
EDITORIAL TEAM
Choose the social channel you want to subscribe to