Abstract
Sicilian police said they had seized EUR700mn (US$884mn) worth of assets from
a businessman accused
of being a ‘banker’ to a fugitive Cosa
Nostra underworld boss. Prosecutor Roberto Scarpinato said that
the
seizure of property and businesses from so-called ‘supermarket
king’ Giuseppe Grigoli was one of the
largest anti-Mafia operations
in recent times. Grigoli had been arrested in 2007 for alleged links to
Matteo
Messina Denaro, a powerful mafia ‘godfather’.
Scarpinato said that Grigoli dominated supermarket
distribution chains in
western Sicily, meaning he could employ hundreds of people with Costa
Nostra
links or recommendations. There was also evidence that crime
syndicates were using discount chains and
supermarkets as a
money-laundering operation. On a national scale, the authorities were seen as
having
carried out anti-crime offensives against the Sicilian Cosa Nostra
and the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, with
reasonably good initial results.
They also opened a third front, deploying army paratroopers north of
Naples in a sweep against the Camorra. A total of 500 soldiers and 400 police
investigators were sent into
a region northwest of Naples said to be
controlled by a branch of the Camorra known as the Casalesi
(named after
the its stronghold in the town of Casal di Principe). The group is involved in
illegal
gambling, drugs, smuggling immigrants, and the illegal transport
and disposal of tons of toxic waste. It
also runs a profitable
‘protection money’ operation. A series of murders are attributed
to the Casalesi
killing informants and those who have refused to pay
protection money.
BMI notes that as far as fundamentals are concerned,
Italy has a medium-term stable political outlook
with a low risk from
terrorist threat. This must be qualified by a continuing vulnerability to
corruption at
various levels within the political system, and an
antagonistic relationship between the judiciary and
politicians. A further
complicating factor is the question of bias in the media, with new
legislation
expected to tackle this thorny question. The political system
remains somewhat vulnerable
to authoritarianism.
There are currently
no major conventional military threats to Italy, but the threat from
international
terrorism is significant. The threat of domestic terrorism
has been significantly reduced since the
dismantling of the extreme
left-wing terrorist group, the Rosa Brigatta, though some fragmented
members
continue to operate. Italy’s withdrawal of troops from Iraq
at the end of 2006 helped to reduce, but not
eliminate, the threat from
international terrorism.
To defend against these threats and ensure the
country’s national security, Italy boasts one of the largest
armed
forces in Europe, which is, under its budgetary constraints, modernising to
adapt to the changing
nature of threats and warfare, and focusing on force
projection and complete integration at multinational
levels. The defence
industry has obtained significant domestic contracts in recent years, but is
looking
increasingly towards pan-European and trans-Atlantic ventures to
ensure its growth.
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