Organized crime gangs seem to realize that by committing fewer murders they can more easily stay under the radar.
The arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro, one of Sicily’s most notorious mafia bosses, has reminded many Italians of the extreme violence he was associated with while operating as a leading figure in Cosa Nostra.
Denaro seems to belong to another era, when the mob brutally killed at will. And it is true that the period of extreme violence that accompanies it is a thing of the past. But that does not mean at all that the Italian organized crime groups have disappeared in the 30 years that Denaro has been in hiding: they have simply reconsidered their course of action.
The Italian mafia has drastically reduced the number of murders. Violence is now used much more strategically and less visibly. Instead of gory, flashy murder, the modern mob intimidates with crimes less likely to report to the police, such as arson, physical assault, or sending threats. Murder is now the last resort.
The violent conflict between the Sicilian Mafia and the Italian state reached its peak in the early 1990s. A period marked by one massacre after another, including the famous 1992 Via D’Amelio bombing in which magistrate Paolo Borsellino and five members of his attendant. In 1991 alone, there were 1,916 murders, 718 of which were mob-related.
The media covered all the details. Politicians spoke in parliament about the scourge of organized crime. Mafia activity held an important place in the public discourse and cultural imagination of Italy.
But the authorities reacted strongly. New laws were enacted, such as the “41-bis” prison regime, which included the threat of solitary confinement for members of organized crime gangs. City councils can be stripped of their powers for up to two years if their officials are believed to be collaborating with the mafia, and if a nationally appointed technocratic administration is created to “clean the house.” A National Anti-Mafia Directorate was also set up to devote more resources to the fight against organized crime.
In the following years, data shows a dramatic drop in mafia-related murders, from 718 in 1991 to just 28 in 2019. In 2020, there were 271 murders in Italy, up from nearly 2,000 in 1991. With 0.5 murders per 100,000 residents, Italy is now the country with the fewest murders in Europe, after Luxembourg, with fewer murders per capita than Norway, Switzerland, Spain or Luxembourg.
At the same time, an interesting trend can be observed. In an ongoing research I have analyzed the RAI (Italian National Television) archive of the last 40 years and studied the content of the national and regional news. It is clear that in the years with more mafia murders, media attention increases, as measured by the percentage of news about the subject.
Conversely, if the mafia murder rate decreases, there is less talk about it and fewer interventions in parliament. For example, organized crime was mentioned in 15% of MPs’ speeches between 1992 and 1994. After 20 years it was only mentioned in 4.3% of speeches.
In other words, the more the mafia kills openly, the more attention it attracts from the media and politicians. It is important to note that these are not necessarily years in which the Mafia has been less active in other ways. Smuggling, blackmail and corruption have not diminished. Only the most notable violence is in retreat.
All this suggests that the drop in homicides could be, at least in part, a strategic choice. Criminals have figured out what they need to go unnoticed.
This doesn’t mean they no longer resort to violence, they’re just more selective. As reported annually by the anti-mafia organization Avviso Pubblico, local managers are now the main target of the mafia. They receive threatening letters and are attacked at a rate of about one incident per day. This phenomenon goes almost unnoticed by the media, which would certainly pay attention if a member of the national parliament were subjected to harassment or violence. At best, local officials can see their cases being picked up in the local press; it is rare for incidents like this to be reported nationwide.
The mafia thus achieves its goal of influencing local politics without attracting the attention of the mainstream media or politicians. Election periods are particularly sensitive: mayors fall victim to the greatest threats during these times, especially in the immediate aftermath of their inauguration, as local mobsters see an opportunity to gain control of the newcomer.
This strategy has facilitated the Mafia’s economic expansion. While the number of murders has decreased, the number of properties and businesses seized by the mob has skyrocketed, suggesting once again that a decrease in violent crime is not necessarily an indicator of a decrease in other types of criminal activity. In 1991, the state confiscated two companies and four mafia properties. In 2019, 351 companies and 651 properties were seized.
These numbers can be taken as an indicator that law enforcement is better able to identify economic crime, and they may well be. But other data lend weight to a more pessimistic interpretation of the facts.
In 2019, organized crime-related assets were seized in 11 Italian provinces (mainly in the northern regions) that had never experienced mafia activity before. And today, every police operation related to organized crime results in seizures worth about 1 million euros. In the late 1990s, the average value of each seizure was around 50,000 euros.
This suggests that the mafia is not retreating, but expanding into new parts of the country and finding more lucrative opportunities along the way.
This article was published in ‘The Conversation’.
Source: La Verdad
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