Naples – The Camorra continues its crackdown, and Prefect Michele di Bari is stepping up the crackdown. With five new anti-mafia bans, the number of measures issued since the beginning of the year to rescue businesses in the Metropolitan City from the clutches of crime has risen to 130.
A comprehensive cleanup operation that reveals the clans' preferred businesses: from construction, a historic sector of conquest, to catering, the new frontier of money laundering.
The highest number of "stops" hit the construction sector, confirmed as the most "sensitive" and attractive for the mafia. But it's the boom in clan-owned restaurants and pizzerias that's causing alarm. The restaurant industry, by its very nature, is a magnet for dirty money.
Why do the Camorra like restaurants? The reasons are structural: it relies on cash payments, often evades controls through the use of illegal labor, and allows them to hide the businesses' true owners. Opening a restaurant is a perfect investment: it guarantees steady income, a widespread presence throughout the area, and, above all, an ideal channel for laundering large sums of illegal money, transforming it into legal profits from a business that is always in demand.
The 130 companies under special observation operate in sectors crucial to the Neapolitan economy: in addition to construction and catering, they also include retail (including food), waste management, transportation, and vehicle registration agencies. This is a comprehensive attack on the legitimate economy, which the prefect is countering with ongoing and targeted action.
Changes and revisions to this article
- Article updated on 19/11/2025 at 12:25 - Content updated
- Article updated on 19/11/2025 at 12:26 - Typo corrected
- Article updated on 19/11/2025 at 12:27 - Typo corrected
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