New Mafia Discovered in Rome - "Mafia Capitale", 37 people arrested

Mafia a Roma, 37 arresti per appalti del comune - articolo La Repubblica

Maxi operazione a Roma per "associazione di stampo mafioso" con 37 arresti, di cui 8 ai domiciliari, e sequestri di beni per 200 milioni. Un "ramificato sistema corruttivo" in vista dell'assegnazione di appalti e finanziamenti pubblici dal Comune di Roma e dalle aziende municipalizzate con interessi, in particolare, anche nella gestione dei rifiuti, dei centri di accoglienza per gli stranieri e campi nomadi e nella manutenzione del verde pubblico: è quanto emerso dalle indagini del Ros che hanno portato alle misure restrittive e ai sequestri da parte del Gico della Finanza. Le accuse vanno dall'associazione di tipo mafioso, estorsione, usura, corruzione, turbativa d'asta, false fatturazioni, trasferimento fraudolento di valori, riciclaggio e altri reati. "Con questa operazione abbiamo risposto alla domanda se la mafia è a Roma - ha spiegato il procuratore capo di Roma, Giuseppe Pignatone, nel corso della conferenza stampa dopo la maxi-operazione - Nella capitale non c'è un'unica organizzazione mafiosa a controllare la città ma ce ne sono diverse. Oggi abbiamo individuato quella che abbiamo chiamato 'Mafia Capitale', romana e originale, senza legami con altre organizzazioni meridionali, di cui però usa il metodo mafioso". Nello specifico, ha riferito Pignatone, "alcuni uomini vicini all'ex sindaco Alemanno sono componenti a pieno titolo dell'organizzazione mafiosa e protagonisti di episodi di corruzione. Con la nuova amministrazione il rapporto è cambiato ma Massimo Carminati e Salvatore Buzzi (presidente della cooperativa 29 giugno arrestato oggi) erano tranquilli chiunque vincesse le elezioni".

Gli arresti. A capo dell'organizzazione mafiosa l'ex terrorista dei Nar, Massimo Carminati che, secondo gli investigatori, ''impartiva le direttive agli altri partecipi, forniva loro schede dedicate per comunicazioni riservate e manteneva i rapporti con gli esponenti delle altre organizzazioni criminali, con pezzi della politica e del mondo istituzionale, finanziario e con appartenenti alle forze dell'ordine e ai servizi segreti''. L'organizzazione di Carminati è trasversale. Ne è convinto il procuratore capo di Roma Giuseppe Pignatone che sull'argomento ha precisato: "Con la nuova consiliatura qualcosa è cambiato, in una conversazione Buzzi e Carminati prima delle elezioni dicevano di essere tranquilli". Carminati diceva a Buzzi, ha spiegato Pignatone: "Noi dobbiamo vendere il prodotto, amico mio, bisogna vendersi come le puttane" e di fronte alle difficoltà presentate da Buzzi, Carminati aggiungeva: "Allora mettiti la minigonna e vai a battere con questi". 

fonte: http://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2014/12/02/news/perquisizioni_alla_pisana_e_in_campidoglio-101923254/

A Critical Analysis of Anti-Corruption Agencies [ESSAY]

A critical analysis of anti-corruption agencies

Author: Alessandro D'Alessio

Anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) are public funded bodies that have the specific duty to tackle corruption through both repressive and preventive activities and, in general, are built under acts of an executive or legislature decree[1].

Paolo Borsellino (Palermo, 19 gennaio 1940 – Palermo, 19 luglio 1992)

Marco Travaglio: Informazione e disinformazione dalla P2 ad oggi

EU Anti-Corruption Report 2014 press conference (February 2014)

Camorra mafia 'super boss' Antonio Iovine turns state witness [The Guardian/UK]

One of four bosses of Casalesi clan within Camorra mafia is collaborating with investigators in Naples, Italian media says

A so-called super boss of a powerful clan within the Camorra mafia has turned state witness and is collaborating with investigators in Naples, Italian media reported on Thursday.

Antonio Iovine, one of the four bosses of the infamous Casalesi clan, started answering the questions of anti-mafia prosecutors earlier this month, La Repubblica wrote. The Naples daily Il Mattino declared it "a historic choice".

Aged 49, but known to all as o'ninno (the baby) for his youthful face and his rapid ascent of the Casalesi power structure, Iovine is thought to have effectively led the business side of the clan's activities before his arrest in 2010 and subsequent jailing for life.

All four bosses are behind bars after a big trial that concluded in 2008. But "until now, none of the core leadership of the Casalesi has ever turned state witness", said John Dickie, professor of Italian studies at University College London and the author of several books on the mafia. "It will be interesting to see if this is the start of the fissuring of this leadership group."

Reports of Iovine's decision were greeted with excitement by Roberto Saviano, a journalist whose bestselling book Gomorrah earned him repeated death threats from the Casalesi, a group known to have made huge inroads into construction, waste disposal and politics.

"This is news that risks changing for good what we know to be true about business and organised crime not only in Campania [and] not only in Italy," he wrote.

"He [Iovine] is someone who knows everything. And so now everything could change. The earth is trembling for a large part of the business and political worlds – and for entire branches of institutions.

"The companies, big and small, which … were born and prospered thanks to the flow of cash from Antonio Iovine, feel as if they're in a room whose walls are increasingly closing in."

Saviano, who lives under police protection, grew up in Casal di Principe – the fiefdom of the Casalesi – and took particular aim at the clan's activities in his book, which went on to become an award-winning film directed by Matteo Garrone.

He said that, while the phenomenon of mafia bosses turning police informers was nothing new, Iovine's move was a first for the Casalesi top brass. The only comparable pentito, he said, had hailed from a previous generation.

"Iovine is the organisation," said Saviano, predicting that his decision to talk could yield information not only about business and the criminal underworld, but also about the past two decades of politics in Italy – not least Nicola Cosentino, a key ally of the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in the Campania region around Naples.

Cosentino was arrested in April on suspicion of colluding with the mafia to favour his family business, allegations his lawyer has described as absurd.

Iovine was sentenced to life, in absentia, at the end of the so-called Spartacus maxi-trial in 2008, and to 21 years and six months at the end of a trial this year. So far, none of the other Casalesi bosses in prison – Francesco Schiavone (AKA Sandokan), Francesco Bidognetti or Michele Zagaria – have collaborated with investigators.

Dickie said the development could prove interesting "more for what he [Iovine] can reveal about the past", particularly regarding politics. However, testimony from mafiosi turned state witnesses was always handled with great caution and its use was "controversial, not least because of [the pentito's] motives".

The interior minister, Angelino Alfano – Berlusconi's former would-be successor – appeared to reflect this ambiguity, telling Sky TG24 television on Thursday: "Sincere repentances have helped the fight against the Cosa Nostra and the [Calabrian] 'Ndrangheta … If the same thing happens with the Camorra it could open interesting scenarios and could even lead us to its defeat."

Luigi De Magistris, the former anti-mafia prosecutor who is now mayor of Naples, was quoted as saying the news was a positive development, opening breaches within the Camorra clans, and a sign of "collaboration with justice".

SOURCE: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/camorra-mafia-boss-antonio-iovine-state-witness-italy-naples 

Article by Lizzy Davies