RISERVATO Sezione 01 del 04 NAPOLI 000.037 SIPDIS STATO ANCHE PASS PER ONDCP; Tesoro per EO OFAC 12.958: decl: 2018/06/05 TAGS: ECON KCRM SENV Snar EFIN PGOV KCOR IT
OGGETTO: LA CRIMINALITÀ ORGANIZZATA IN ITALIA II: COME LA CRIMINALITÀ ORGANIZZATA FALSA MERCATI E LIMITI D'ITALIA CRESCITA REF: (A) Napoli 36 (B) 07 119 NAPOLI NAPOLI 00.000.037 001.2 di 004 classificate per: TRUHN PATRICK J., Console Generale, NAPOLI AMCONGEN, STATO. MOTIVO: 1.4 (b), (d)
¶ 1. (U) Oggetto: Questo è il secondo di una serie in tre parti; questo messaggio esamina la dimensione economica della criminalità organizzata nel Sud Italia. Secondo un recente studio, la criminalità organizzata è il più grande singolo segmento dell'economia italiana, pari al sette per cento del PIL. Ovunque si manifesti, la criminalità organizzata in Italia, distorce i mercati. Mentre in alcuni casi si abbassa i prezzi (ma di solito con effetti collaterali), in generale le sue attività (ad esempio, le estorsioni, le manovre degli appalti pubblici) portano a maggiori costi per il governo, imprenditori e consumatori. Le stime dei costi della criminalità organizzata come molto del Paese sono nella migliore delle ipotesi approssimative, e non sempre tengono conto delle occasioni perse per gli investimenti stranieri, l'ambiente e la salute effetti perversi, le perdite dovute alla corruzione e inefficienza, e dei costi sociali legati ai tassi più elevati della tossicodipendenza e connessi reati di droga. I tre gruppi di criminalità organizzata principale in Italia guadagnano decine o centinaia di miliardi di euro all'anno, a seconda delle stime. Fine riassunto. Criminalità organizzata: uomini d'affari con Guns -----------------------------------------
¶ 2. (U), spesso considerato come un fenomeno politico o sociale, la criminalità organizzata in Italia, come in qualsiasi paese, è prima di tutto un business. Una relazione del 2007 dall'associazione delle imprese italiane Conferescenti stima che è il più grande settore dell'economia italiana, con un miliardo di euro 90 ($ 143 b) il fatturato, pari al sette per cento del PIL, e 20.000 "dipendenti". Tuttavia, poiché l'attività illegale è da clandestino definizione, è impossibile quantificare tutti i suoi effetti sull'economia. La criminalità organizzata distorce i prezzi (per lo più verso l'alto, ma a volte verso il basso); mina commerciale legittima; scoraggia l'imprenditorialità e la creazione di imprese di grandi dimensioni; e ostacola la crescita economica, non solo nel Sud ma in tutta Italia. Il governo indiano di Statistica (ISTAT), calcolato alla fine del 2007 che l'Italia conti dell'economia sommersa per circa il 18 per cento del totale del PIL, non tutto il mercato del lavoro nero, invece, è gestito dalla criminalità organizzata. Secondo uno studio del 2008 dal-mafia Rocco anti Chinnici Foundation, estorsioni, dell'usura, del riciclaggio di denaro, evasione fiscale, spreco di fondi pubblici, si stima che costano all'economia siciliana un sostanzioso 1000000000 € all'anno, ovvero 1,3 per cento del dell'isola PIL. Secondo un altro studio dell'Istituto Eurispes (un think tank italiano), Cosa Nostra guadagna oltre otto miliardi di euro (12,7 $ b) un anno dalla sua attività; la camorra circa 12 miliardi di euro (19 $ b) un anno, e la 'ndrangheta 36000000000 € (57,2 $ b) un anno - sostanzialmente esente da imposte. Una relazione di maggio 2008 dal Eurispes think tank calcola che la 'ndrangheta delle operazioni commerciali rappresentano 2,9 per cento del Pil in Italia, o 44 miliardi di euro (70,8 $ b) all'anno, l'equivalente del PIL combinato di espansione dell'UE membri della Slovenia e della Estonia. Sessanta per cento di questo importo proviene dal traffico di droga. Uno studio Censis stima che la criminalità organizzata drena annualmente € 5700000000 dal dell'economia italiana e rappresenta una perdita del 2,5 per cento di crescita economica del Sud. D'Italia Tesoreria Polizia stimato nel 2005 che i profitti realizzati dalle attività illecite (non che sono tutti controllati da questi tre gruppi) variava da 500 a 1.000 miliardi di euro all'anno. La vasta gamma di queste diverse stime è un'indicazione di quanto sia difficile calcolare il profitto e gli effetti della criminalità organizzata in Italia.
¶ 3. (C) Oltre a ottenere denaro da altri, la mafia svolge la propria imprenditorialità proprio quando si tratta di appalti pubblici, soprattutto nel settore delle costruzioni. Nel caso di Cosa Nostra, per esempio, le organizzazioni criminali, con i soldi riciclati da altre attività illecite come estorsioni, girare privato in società immobiliari controllate monopoli mafiosi. Attraverso un sistema di rotazione programmata, tutte le NAPOLI 00000037 002,2 di 004 società controllate dalla mafia sono garantiti contratti offrendo solo uno sconto minimo; i profitti lucroso contratto consentire ai vincitori di fornire grandi tangenti ad entrambe la mafia ed i politici corrotti e funzionari pubblici che lo ospitano. Attraverso tali operazioni, miliardi di euro al governo centrale e fondi di sviluppo dell'UE hanno avvolto nelle mani della criminalità organizzata. Lorenzo Diana, ex senatore e ex capo del anti-mafia unità del Partito Democratico della Sinistra, rende credibile l'affermazione che la maggior parte della strada che parte da Napoli a Reggio Calabria è stato costruito - utilizzando materiali scadenti e metodi - e da 'ndrangheta camorra clan. Secondo Vincenzo Macri, un anti-mafia procuratore aggiunto, la proposta di ponte sullo stretto di Messina (che collega la Sicilia con la terraferma) è un'altra miniera d'oro all'orizzonte per la criminalità organizzata. Anche se la sindacati del crimine sarebbe solo marginalmente coinvolto nella pianificazione, la fase di realizzazione offrirà miliardi di euro di appalti e subappalti per la costruzione, materiali, servizi e altre forme di ciò che egli definisce "indifferenza".
¶ 4. (C) I prezzi per la maggior parte beni e servizi in Italia meridionale sono ovunque tra i due ei cinque per cento in più di quello che sarebbe stato in assenza di criminalità organizzata, secondo numerose fonti. Giuseppe Gennaro, procuratore anti-mafia a Catania, in Sicilia, ci dice che Cosa Nostra vuole un 2-3 per cento "tassa" sulla maggior parte delle operazioni in Sicilia. A Reggio Calabria, prefetto Salvatore Montanaro, dice 70-80 per cento delle imprese nella sua provincia paga il pizzo: le stime per la Sicilia sono simili, mentre circa il 40 per cento delle imprese in Campania e Puglia riferito effettuare pagamenti estorsione. SOS Impresa, l'associazione anti-racket, stima che i costi legati alla mafia mercanti italiani è di 30 miliardi di euro (47,7 $ b) annualmente, di cui 12 miliardi da usura, 11 miliardi di brogli contratti e sei miliardi di estorsione. Protezione tasse "range" 100-500 euro al mese per i piccoli negozi a 10.000 euro al mese per i cantieri. Coloro che rifiutano di pagare sono minacciati, perseguitati e qualche volta attaccato o ucciso, o le loro aziende sono bruciati. Secondo la Fondazione Chinnici studio, però, quelli che pagano non si sentono più sicuri. Un termine estorsione vittima a lungo sostenuto la sua pagamenti "portato alcun beneficio concreto, sia in termini di business o di crescita della sicurezza". Un altro ha definito "un ammazza-evento di libertà, il peggiore insulto, un attacco alla tua esistenza ... come te a calci in faccia."
¶ 5. (C) Ciò non vuol dire che le distorsioni del mercato sempre aumentare i prezzi. Secondo Roberto Saviano, autore di un libro best-seller sulla camorra, le industrie può risparmiare fino al 80 per cento del costo per smaltire legalmente i propri rifiuti tossici assumendo la camorra di disporne clandestinamente. Questo rende di fatto molte fabbriche (quasi tutti dei quali si trovano nel nord Italia) più competitivi, ma ad un costo ambientale terribile (il peso maggiore dei quali è pagato dai residenti nel Sud, dove i venti rifiuti in su). Secondo l'ex deputato Isaia Sales, un esperto che ha scritto due libri sulla camorra, la criminalità organizzata e il cibo a volte abbassa i prezzi agricoli, anche, favorendo alcuni imprenditori che sono in grado di produrre in modo più efficiente a causa di affari aumentato. La camorra abbassa anche i valori immobiliari, costringendo i proprietari a vendere a prezzi ridicolmente bassi con l'intimidazione. Simile alla camorra il traffico la di rifiuti tossici per ridurre l'onere per il nord d'affari italiana, la 'ndrangheta (secondo Mario Spagnuolo,-Mafia procuratore anti a Catanzaro) gestisce anelli di immigrazione clandestina che forniscono i lavoratori stranieri ai datori di lavoro in Calabria per un semplice 20-30 euro al giorno, riducendo così i costi del lavoro per alcune imprese. Spagnuolo dice anche la 'ndrangheta ha così semplificato il mercato delle armi (traffico, per esempio, in avanzi della guerra di Bosnia), che si può acquistare un fucile d'assalto Kalashnikov per un terzo il prezzo di una pistola legalmente acquistato. NAPOLI 00000037 003,2 DEL 004 e Salute costi ambientali ------------------------------
¶ 6. (U) Gli effetti sull'ambiente e sulla salute sono sbalorditive. Saviano aveva detto al giornalista recente che la camorra ha guadagnato 6000000000 € in due anni dallo smaltimento dei rifiuti tossici. "Farmlands acquistati a prezzi estremamente bassa si trasformano in discariche illegali .... Il tipo di rifiuti oggetto di dumping comprende tutto: barili di vernici, toner, e scheletri umani, panni usati per pulire le mammelle della mucca, zinco, arsenico e il residuo di industriali sostanze chimiche. " Le autorità nei pressi di Napoli scoperto nel febbraio 2008 una discarica piena di rifiuti ospedalieri, tra cui siringhe usate, flaconi di migliaia di campioni di sangue e di un embrione umano. Legittime le discariche sono state utilizzate anche per scarico illegale, uno dei motivi che sono ora a capacità, che ha portato ad una crisi dei rifiuti in tutta gran parte della regione Campania (Rif. B). Nel 2006, l'Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità ha riscontrato tassi di stomaco, fegato, rene, polmone e il cancro del pancreas ad essere fino al 12 per cento superiore alla media nazionale nelle aree a nord di Napoli dove la camorra ha scaricato migliaia di camion carichi di rifiuti tossici. I costi ambientali della criminalità organizzata non può mai essere calcolabile, e il costo complessivo in termini di malattie dell'uomo e degli animali e la mortalità non può essere quantificato.
¶ 7. (U) d'impatto ambientale Il crimine organizzato si estende alle frodi alimentari, e la Campania porta il paese in questo settore. Secondo i rapporti della polizia, la camorra gestisce circa 2.000 panifici illegali (due terzi del totale della regione), utilizzando farina scaduti e forni che emettono fumi tossici (il "bosco" viene spesso vecchie porte rivestiti in vernice). Caserta ha caseifici illegale che Mescolare il latte di bufala con latte in polvere dalla Bolivia, tagliando i costi mozzarella al dettaglio di un terzo, ma anche l'uso di calce per aiutare ricotta "tenere" più a lungo. Secondo un comandante di 'Carabinieri Napoli, il business più fiorente è il riciclaggio dei prodotti scaduti. La camorra passa anche off-qualità con le importazioni a basso made in Campania-etichette, dai pesticidi carico di mele moldave a coli infestato marocchino industriale sale E.. La criminalità organizzata è anche pesantemente coinvolta nella frode diritti di proprietà intellettuale, da designer di moda borse fake di DVD falsi; autorità siciliane anche scoperto di recente vari garage dove Ferrari fasulli venivano prodotte. Creando caos --------------
¶ 8. (C) Il crimine organizzato ha anche effetti insidiosi sul paesaggio urbano. Giap Parini, un ricercatore che ci ha incontrato presso l'Università della Calabria a Cosenza, dice che è sbagliato pensare di infestato città mob come povero, al contrario, possono essere abitati da ricchi padroni. Dietro la discesa pareti esterne di esecuzione sono rubinetti d'oro e bagni in marmo. No, la caratteristica principale di una città folla, Parini sostiene, è il caos. espansione incontrollata, abusivismo edilizio, mancanza di spazi verdi, non ha pianificazione urbanistica, opere pubbliche incomplete, infrastrutture carenti, basso livello d'istruzione, e l'inefficienza delle amministrazioni pubbliche sono tutti segni della criminalità organizzata. Sindaci che tenta di installare l'illuminazione nelle aree pubbliche si trovano spesso le luci rotto in un giorno, come lampioni non sono propizi per spaccio di droga. Napoli GianDomenico procuratore Lepore dice politici e cittadini non si rendono conto degli oneri che la criminalità organizzata è l'economia: "qui c'è lo sviluppo. There" Infatti, la camorra fatto un enorme profitto nei primi anni 1980 con la costruzione di case popolari a Napoli dopo un grande terremoto, oggi, questi quartieri sono caratterizzati da cemento fatiscenti grattacieli e l'assenza di piazze, negozi, parchi e alberi.
¶ 9. (C) Ironia della sorte, secondo l'Università della Calabria sociologia professor Pietro Fantozzi, ci sono più NAPOLI gigante 00.000.037 004.2 di 004 centri commerciali pro capite in Calabria povera rispetto alla metropolitana milanese zona prospera. Tutta l'Italia meridionale, uscite autostradali sono allineati con concessionarie di auto di lusso, costosi negozi di decorazione della casa, e ostentato, ville neo-classico - fantasie su cui il grande pubblico (quasi un terzo dei quali vivono al di sotto del livello di povertà) possono solo sognare.
SIPDIS
STATE ALSO PASS TO ONDCP; TREASURY FOR OFAC
E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/5/2018
TAGS: ECON KCRM SENV SNAR EFIN PGOV KCOR IT
SUBJECT: ORGANIZED CRIME IN ITALY II: HOW ORGANIZED CRIME DISTORTS
MARKETS AND LIMITS ITALY'S GROWTH
REF: (A) NAPLES 36 (B) 07 NAPLES 119
NAPLES 00000037 001.2 OF 004
CLASSIFIED BY: J. PATRICK TRUHN, CONSUL GENERAL, AMCONGEN
NAPLES, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)
¶1. (U) Summary: This is the second of a three-part series;
this message examines the economic dimension of organized crime
in Southern Italy. According to a recent study, organized crime
is the biggest individual segment of the Italian economy,
accounting for seven percent of GDP. Wherever it occurs,
organized crime in Italy distorts markets. While in some
instances it lowers prices (but usually with adverse side
effects), in general its activities (e.g., extortion, rigging of
public contracts) lead to higher costs for the government,
business owners and consumers. Estimates of how much organized
crime costs the country are at best approximate, and do not
always take into account the lost opportunities for foreign
investment, the pernicious environmental and health effects, the
losses due to corruption and inefficiency, and social costs
related to higher rates of drug dependency and drug-related
crimes. The three main organized crime groups in Italy earn
tens to hundreds of billions of euros a year, depending on the
estimate. End summary.
Organized Crime: Businessmen With Guns
-----------------------------------------
¶2. (U) Often viewed as a political or social phenomenon,
organized crime in Italy, as in any country, is first and
foremost a business. A 2007 report by the Italian business
association Conferescenti estimates that it is the biggest
sector of the Italian economy, with a 90 billion euro ($143 b)
turnover, accounting for seven percent of GDP, and 20,000
"employees." However, because illegal activity is by definition
clandestine, it is impossible to quantify all of its effects on
the economy. Organized crime distorts prices (mostly upwards,
but sometimes downwards); undermines legitimate business;
discourages entrepreneurship and the establishment of large
businesses; and hinders economic growth, not only in the South
but throughout Italy. The GOI's Statistics Institute (ISTAT)
calculated in late 2007 that Italy's underground economy
accounts for about 18 percent of total GDP; not all of the
black-market economy, however, is run by organized crime.
According to a 2008 study by the anti-Mafia Rocco Chinnici
Foundation, extortion, loan sharking, money laundering, tax
evasion and wasted public funds are estimated to cost the
Sicilian economy a hefty one billion euros annually, or 1.3
percent of the island's GDP. According to another study by the
Eurispes Institute (an Italian think tank), the Cosa Nostra
earns over eight billion euros ($12.7 b) a year from its
activities; the Camorra about 12 billion euros ($19 b) a year;
and the 'Ndrangheta 36 billion euros ($57.2 b) a year --
basically tax-free. A May 2008 report by the Eurispes think
tank calculates that the 'Ndrangheta's business operations
represent 2.9 percent of Italy's GDP, or 44 billion euros ($70.8
b) per year, the equivalent to the combined GDPs of booming EU
members Slovenia and Estonia. Sixty-two percent of this amount
comes from the drug trade. A CENSIS study estimates that
organized crime annually drains 5.7 billion euros from the
Italian economy and represents a loss of 2.5 percent in the
South's economic growth. Italy's Treasury Police estimated in
2005 that the profits realized from illicit activities (not all
of which are controlled by these three groups) ranged from 500
to 1,000 billion euros per year. The wide range of these
various estimates is an indication of just how difficult it is
to calculate the profit and effects of organized crime in Italy.
¶3. (C) In addition to extracting money from others, the Mafia
engages in its own entrepreneurship when it comes to public
contracts, especially in the construction industry. In the case
of Cosa Nostra, for example, the criminal organizations, using
money laundered from other illegal activities such as extortion,
turn private real estate companies into Mafia-controlled
monopolies. Through a system of programmed rotation, all of the
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companies controlled by the Mafia are guaranteed contracts while
offering only a minimal discount; the lucrative profits allow
the contract winners to deliver larger bribes to both the Mafia
and the corrupt politicians and public officials who accommodate
it. Through such transactions, billions of euros in central
government and EU development funds have wound up in the hands
of organized crime. Lorenzo Diana, a former Senator and former
head of the Democratic Left Party's anti-Mafia unit, makes the
credible assertion that most of the highway running from Naples
to Reggio Calabria was built -- using substandard materials and
methods -- by Camorra and 'Ndrangheta clans. According to
Vincenzo Macri, a deputy anti-Mafia prosecutor, the proposed
Strait of Messina bridge (linking Sicily to the mainland) is
another goldmine on the horizon for organized crime. Although
the crime syndicates would be only marginally involved in the
planning, the realization phase will offer billions of euros in
contracts and subcontracts for construction, materials, services
and other forms of what he terms "indifference."
¶4. (C) Prices for most goods and services in Southern Italy are
anywhere between two and five percent higher than what they
would be in the absence of organized crime, according to several
sources. Giuseppe Gennaro, and anti-Mafia prosecutor in
Catania, Sicily, tells us that the Cosa Nostra takes a two to
three percent "tax" on most transactions in Sicily. In Reggio
Calabria, Prefect Salvatore Montanaro says 70 to 80 percent of
businesses in his province pay protection money; estimates for
Sicily are similar, while about 40 percent of businesses in
Campania and Apulia reportedly make extortion payments. SOS
Impresa, an anti-racket association, estimates that the
mafia-related cost to Italian merchants is 30 billion euros
($47.7 b) annually, including 12 billion from usury, 11 billion
from rigged contracts and six billion from extortion.
Protection "fees" range from 100 to 500 euros per month for
small stores to 10,000 euros per month for construction sites.
Those who refuse to pay are threatened, harassed and sometimes
attacked or killed, or their businesses are burned. According
to the Chinnici Foundation study, however, those who do pay do
not feel any safer. One long-term extortion victim claimed his
payments "resulted in no concrete benefit, either in terms of
security or business growth." Another called it "a
liberty-killing event, the worst insult, an attack on your very
existence...like kicking yourself in the face."
¶5. (C) This is not to say that the market distortions always
raise prices. According to Roberto Saviano, author of a
best-selling book about the Camorra, industries can save up to
80 percent of the cost to legally dispose of their toxic waste
by hiring the Camorra to dispose of it clandestinely. This
actually makes many factories (virtually all of which are
located in northern Italy) more competitive, but at a terrible
environmental cost (the brunt of which is paid by residents in
the South, where the waste winds up). According to former MP
Isaia Sales, an expert who has written two books on the Camorra,
organized crime sometimes lowers agricultural and food prices,
too, by favoring certain business owners who are able to produce
more efficiently due to increased business. The Camorra also
lowers real estate values, by forcing property owners to sell at
ridiculously low prices through intimidation. Similar to the
Camorra's trafficking in toxic waste to reduce the burden for
northern Italian business, the 'Ndrangheta (according to Mario
Spagnuolo, anti-Mafia prosecutor in Catanzaro) manages illegal
immigration rings that provide foreign workers to Calabrian
employers for a mere 20 to 30 euros a day, thus lowering labor
costs for some businesses. Spagnuolo also says the 'Ndrangheta
has so streamlined the arms market (trafficking, for example, in
leftovers from the Bosnia war) that one can purchase a
Kalashnikov assault rifle for one-third the price of a legally
purchased pistol.
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Environmental and Health Costs
------------------------------
¶6. (U) The effects on the environment and health are stunning.
Saviano told a recent interviewer that the Camorra earned six
billion euros in two years from toxic waste disposal.
"Farmlands bought at extremely low prices are transformed into
illegal dumping grounds.... The type of garbage dumped includes
everything: barrels of paint, printer toner, human skeletons,
cloths used for cleaning cow udders, zinc, arsenic and the
residue of industrial chemicals." Authorities near Naples
discovered in February 2008 a dump brimming with hospital waste,
including used syringes, thousands of vials of blood samples and
a human embryo. Legitimate landfills have also been also used
for illegal dumping, one of the reasons they are now at
capacity, which has led to a waste disposal crisis throughout a
large part of Campania region (ref B). In 2006, the World
Health Organization found rates for stomach, liver, kidney, lung
and pancreatic cancer to be up to 12 percent higher than the
national average in areas just north of Naples where the Camorra
has dumped thousands of truckloads of toxic waste. The
environmental costs of organized crime may never be calculable,
and the overall costs in terms of human and animal disease and
mortality cannot be quantified.
¶7. (U) Organized crime's environmental impact extends to food
frauds, and Campania leads the country in this sector.
According to police reports, the Camorra runs an estimated 2,000
illegal bakeries (two thirds of the region's total), using
expired flour and ovens which emit toxic fumes (the "wood" is
often old doors covered in paint). Caserta has illegal cheese
factories which mix buffalo milk with powdered milk from
Bolivia, cutting retail mozzarella costs by a third; they also
use lime to help ricotta "keep" longer. According to a
Commander of Naples' Carabinieri, the most flourishing business
is recycling expired products. The Camorra also passes off
low-quality imports with made-in-Campania labels, from
pesticide-laden Moldovan apples to E. coli-infested Moroccan
industrial salt. Organized crime is also heavily involved in
IPR fraud, from fake designer fashion bags to bogus DVDs;
Sicilian authorities even discovered recently several garages
where fake Ferraris were being manufactured.
Creating Chaos
--------------
¶8. (C) Organized crime also has insidious effects on the urban
landscape. Giap Parini, a researcher who met us at the
University of Calabria in Cosenza, says that it is wrong to
think of mob-infested cities as poor; on the contrary, they can
be inhabited by wealthy bosses. Behind the run-down exterior
walls are golden faucets and marble bathrooms. No, the main
characteristic of a mob city, Parini argues, is chaos.
Uncontrolled expansion, illegal construction, lack of green
spaces, failed urban planning, incomplete public works, poor
infrastructure, low educational standards, and general
government inefficiency are all signs of organized crime.
Mayors who try to install illumination in public areas often
find the lights broken within a day, as streetlamps are not
propitious for drug dealing. Naples Prosecutor GianDomenico
Lepore says politicians and citizens do not realize the burden
that organized crime is on the economy: "There's no development
here." Indeed, the Camorra made an enormous profit in the early
1980s by constructing public housing in Naples after a major
earthquake; today, these neighborhoods are characterized by
crumbling cement high-rises and an absence of piazzas, stores,
parks and trees.
¶9. (C) Ironically, according to University of Calabria
sociology professor Pietro Fantozzi, there are more giant
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shopping malls per capita in poverty-stricken Calabria than in
the prosperous Milan metropolitan area. Throughout Southern
Italy, highway exits are lined with luxury car dealerships,
expensive home decoration stores, and ostentatious,
neo-classical villas -- fantasies about which the general public
(nearly a third of whom are living at or below poverty level)
can only dream.
¶10. (SBU) Comment: Put all these factors together and it
becomes clear that organized crime is a major, if not the main
reason why the southern Italian economy lags so far behind that
of the rest of the country, and one of the main causes of
Italy's growth lagging behind the rest of the European Union.
Organized crime keeps away investors and ensures that small
businesses cannot become large, which in turn perpetuates the
high unemployment rates (averaging 20 percent in the South, and
35 percent for young people). Extortion and the imposition of
Mafia-associated suppliers make many businesses unprofitable;
business owners must compensate by raising prices and/or by not
paying taxes. Attempts by the government or the EU to spark
development in the South are frustrated by Mafia-run corruption
and mob fixing of contracts and sub-contracts. Legitimate
businesses are also undercut by Mafia-led production and
distribution of pirated and counterfeit products. Development
would create an alternative to organized crime that would put
its practitioners out of business, so it is in the mob's
interest to retard economic and social development. Not
surprisingly, a study published in January 2008 by researchers
at the Magna Grecia University of Catanzaro and Naples' Federico
II University showed that the presence of organized crime is a
strong disincentive for foreign investors. While the
established U.S. businesses in the South (almost all of which
are relatively large) have not complained to ConGen Naples about
organized crime, countless potential investors have expressed to
our Commercial Service office a reluctance to invest out of fear
of the mob. Southern Italy has few major U.S. investments
compared to the rest of the country. In the end, the costs of
organized crime are felt directly or indirectly by virtually
every Italian citizen. While the problem might seem
intractable, the third and final cable in this series will
examine ways Italy and the United States can successfully
confront organized crime. End comment.
TRUHN
¶ 10. (SBU) Commento: Mettete tutti questi fattori insieme e diventa chiaro che la criminalità organizzata è una delle principali, se non il motivo principale per cui l'italiano dell'economia meridionale in ritardo così indietro da quella del resto del paese, e una delle principali cause di di crescita l'Italia in ritardo rispetto al resto dell'Unione europea. La criminalità organizzata tiene lontani gli investitori e garantisce che le piccole imprese non possono diventare di grandi dimensioni, che a sua volta perpetua la elevati tassi di disoccupazione (in media il 20 per cento nel Sud, e il 35 per cento per i giovani). L'estorsione e l'imposizione di fornitori associati mafiosi fanno molte aziende non redditizie; imprenditori devono compensare aumentando i prezzi e / o da non pagare le tasse. I tentativi da parte del governo o l'Unione europea a scintilla di sviluppo nel Sud sono frustrati dalla conduzione corruzione mafia e mafia fissazione dei contratti e sub-contratti. imprese legali sono anche inferiori a quelli di produzione a guida Mafia e distribuzione di prodotti pirata e contraffatti. Avrebbe creato un'alternativa alla criminalità organizzata che avrebbe messo i suoi praticanti l'attività, quindi è nel suo interesse la mafia per ritardare e sociali dello sviluppo economico. Non sorprende che uno studio pubblicato nel gennaio 2008 da ricercatori dell'Università Magna Grecia di Catanzaro e di Napoli 'Federico II University hanno dimostrato che la presenza della criminalità organizzata è un forte disincentivo per gli investitori stranieri. Mentre gli Stati Uniti le imprese con sede nel Sud (quasi tutti, che sono relativamente grandi) non hanno presentato una denuncia al Congen Napoli su criminalità organizzata, innumerevoli potenziali investitori hanno espresso al nostro servizio di ufficio commerciale di una certa riluttanza ad investire per paura della folla. Sud Italia ha pochi grandi investimenti degli Stati Uniti rispetto al resto del paese. Alla fine, i costi della criminalità organizzata sono avvertiti direttamente o indirettamente da praticamente ogni cittadino italiano. Mentre il problema potrebbe sembrare intrattabile, il terzo e ultimo cavo in questa serie valuterà come l'Italia e gli Stati Uniti possono affrontare con successo la criminalità organizzata. Fine commento. TRUHN
TESTO ORIGINALE:
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NAPLES 000037
SIPDIS
STATE ALSO PASS TO ONDCP; TREASURY FOR OFAC
E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/5/2018
TAGS: ECON KCRM SENV SNAR EFIN PGOV KCOR IT
SUBJECT: ORGANIZED CRIME IN ITALY II: HOW ORGANIZED CRIME DISTORTS
MARKETS AND LIMITS ITALY'S GROWTH
REF: (A) NAPLES 36 (B) 07 NAPLES 119
NAPLES 00000037 001.2 OF 004
CLASSIFIED BY: J. PATRICK TRUHN, CONSUL GENERAL, AMCONGEN
NAPLES, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)
¶1. (U) Summary: This is the second of a three-part series;
this message examines the economic dimension of organized crime
in Southern Italy. According to a recent study, organized crime
is the biggest individual segment of the Italian economy,
accounting for seven percent of GDP. Wherever it occurs,
organized crime in Italy distorts markets. While in some
instances it lowers prices (but usually with adverse side
effects), in general its activities (e.g., extortion, rigging of
public contracts) lead to higher costs for the government,
business owners and consumers. Estimates of how much organized
crime costs the country are at best approximate, and do not
always take into account the lost opportunities for foreign
investment, the pernicious environmental and health effects, the
losses due to corruption and inefficiency, and social costs
related to higher rates of drug dependency and drug-related
crimes. The three main organized crime groups in Italy earn
tens to hundreds of billions of euros a year, depending on the
estimate. End summary.
Organized Crime: Businessmen With Guns
-----------------------------------------
¶2. (U) Often viewed as a political or social phenomenon,
organized crime in Italy, as in any country, is first and
foremost a business. A 2007 report by the Italian business
association Conferescenti estimates that it is the biggest
sector of the Italian economy, with a 90 billion euro ($143 b)
turnover, accounting for seven percent of GDP, and 20,000
"employees." However, because illegal activity is by definition
clandestine, it is impossible to quantify all of its effects on
the economy. Organized crime distorts prices (mostly upwards,
but sometimes downwards); undermines legitimate business;
discourages entrepreneurship and the establishment of large
businesses; and hinders economic growth, not only in the South
but throughout Italy. The GOI's Statistics Institute (ISTAT)
calculated in late 2007 that Italy's underground economy
accounts for about 18 percent of total GDP; not all of the
black-market economy, however, is run by organized crime.
According to a 2008 study by the anti-Mafia Rocco Chinnici
Foundation, extortion, loan sharking, money laundering, tax
evasion and wasted public funds are estimated to cost the
Sicilian economy a hefty one billion euros annually, or 1.3
percent of the island's GDP. According to another study by the
Eurispes Institute (an Italian think tank), the Cosa Nostra
earns over eight billion euros ($12.7 b) a year from its
activities; the Camorra about 12 billion euros ($19 b) a year;
and the 'Ndrangheta 36 billion euros ($57.2 b) a year --
basically tax-free. A May 2008 report by the Eurispes think
tank calculates that the 'Ndrangheta's business operations
represent 2.9 percent of Italy's GDP, or 44 billion euros ($70.8
b) per year, the equivalent to the combined GDPs of booming EU
members Slovenia and Estonia. Sixty-two percent of this amount
comes from the drug trade. A CENSIS study estimates that
organized crime annually drains 5.7 billion euros from the
Italian economy and represents a loss of 2.5 percent in the
South's economic growth. Italy's Treasury Police estimated in
2005 that the profits realized from illicit activities (not all
of which are controlled by these three groups) ranged from 500
to 1,000 billion euros per year. The wide range of these
various estimates is an indication of just how difficult it is
to calculate the profit and effects of organized crime in Italy.
¶3. (C) In addition to extracting money from others, the Mafia
engages in its own entrepreneurship when it comes to public
contracts, especially in the construction industry. In the case
of Cosa Nostra, for example, the criminal organizations, using
money laundered from other illegal activities such as extortion,
turn private real estate companies into Mafia-controlled
monopolies. Through a system of programmed rotation, all of the
NAPLES 00000037 002.2 OF 004
companies controlled by the Mafia are guaranteed contracts while
offering only a minimal discount; the lucrative profits allow
the contract winners to deliver larger bribes to both the Mafia
and the corrupt politicians and public officials who accommodate
it. Through such transactions, billions of euros in central
government and EU development funds have wound up in the hands
of organized crime. Lorenzo Diana, a former Senator and former
head of the Democratic Left Party's anti-Mafia unit, makes the
credible assertion that most of the highway running from Naples
to Reggio Calabria was built -- using substandard materials and
methods -- by Camorra and 'Ndrangheta clans. According to
Vincenzo Macri, a deputy anti-Mafia prosecutor, the proposed
Strait of Messina bridge (linking Sicily to the mainland) is
another goldmine on the horizon for organized crime. Although
the crime syndicates would be only marginally involved in the
planning, the realization phase will offer billions of euros in
contracts and subcontracts for construction, materials, services
and other forms of what he terms "indifference."
¶4. (C) Prices for most goods and services in Southern Italy are
anywhere between two and five percent higher than what they
would be in the absence of organized crime, according to several
sources. Giuseppe Gennaro, and anti-Mafia prosecutor in
Catania, Sicily, tells us that the Cosa Nostra takes a two to
three percent "tax" on most transactions in Sicily. In Reggio
Calabria, Prefect Salvatore Montanaro says 70 to 80 percent of
businesses in his province pay protection money; estimates for
Sicily are similar, while about 40 percent of businesses in
Campania and Apulia reportedly make extortion payments. SOS
Impresa, an anti-racket association, estimates that the
mafia-related cost to Italian merchants is 30 billion euros
($47.7 b) annually, including 12 billion from usury, 11 billion
from rigged contracts and six billion from extortion.
Protection "fees" range from 100 to 500 euros per month for
small stores to 10,000 euros per month for construction sites.
Those who refuse to pay are threatened, harassed and sometimes
attacked or killed, or their businesses are burned. According
to the Chinnici Foundation study, however, those who do pay do
not feel any safer. One long-term extortion victim claimed his
payments "resulted in no concrete benefit, either in terms of
security or business growth." Another called it "a
liberty-killing event, the worst insult, an attack on your very
existence...like kicking yourself in the face."
¶5. (C) This is not to say that the market distortions always
raise prices. According to Roberto Saviano, author of a
best-selling book about the Camorra, industries can save up to
80 percent of the cost to legally dispose of their toxic waste
by hiring the Camorra to dispose of it clandestinely. This
actually makes many factories (virtually all of which are
located in northern Italy) more competitive, but at a terrible
environmental cost (the brunt of which is paid by residents in
the South, where the waste winds up). According to former MP
Isaia Sales, an expert who has written two books on the Camorra,
organized crime sometimes lowers agricultural and food prices,
too, by favoring certain business owners who are able to produce
more efficiently due to increased business. The Camorra also
lowers real estate values, by forcing property owners to sell at
ridiculously low prices through intimidation. Similar to the
Camorra's trafficking in toxic waste to reduce the burden for
northern Italian business, the 'Ndrangheta (according to Mario
Spagnuolo, anti-Mafia prosecutor in Catanzaro) manages illegal
immigration rings that provide foreign workers to Calabrian
employers for a mere 20 to 30 euros a day, thus lowering labor
costs for some businesses. Spagnuolo also says the 'Ndrangheta
has so streamlined the arms market (trafficking, for example, in
leftovers from the Bosnia war) that one can purchase a
Kalashnikov assault rifle for one-third the price of a legally
purchased pistol.
NAPLES 00000037 003.2 OF 004
Environmental and Health Costs
------------------------------
¶6. (U) The effects on the environment and health are stunning.
Saviano told a recent interviewer that the Camorra earned six
billion euros in two years from toxic waste disposal.
"Farmlands bought at extremely low prices are transformed into
illegal dumping grounds.... The type of garbage dumped includes
everything: barrels of paint, printer toner, human skeletons,
cloths used for cleaning cow udders, zinc, arsenic and the
residue of industrial chemicals." Authorities near Naples
discovered in February 2008 a dump brimming with hospital waste,
including used syringes, thousands of vials of blood samples and
a human embryo. Legitimate landfills have also been also used
for illegal dumping, one of the reasons they are now at
capacity, which has led to a waste disposal crisis throughout a
large part of Campania region (ref B). In 2006, the World
Health Organization found rates for stomach, liver, kidney, lung
and pancreatic cancer to be up to 12 percent higher than the
national average in areas just north of Naples where the Camorra
has dumped thousands of truckloads of toxic waste. The
environmental costs of organized crime may never be calculable,
and the overall costs in terms of human and animal disease and
mortality cannot be quantified.
¶7. (U) Organized crime's environmental impact extends to food
frauds, and Campania leads the country in this sector.
According to police reports, the Camorra runs an estimated 2,000
illegal bakeries (two thirds of the region's total), using
expired flour and ovens which emit toxic fumes (the "wood" is
often old doors covered in paint). Caserta has illegal cheese
factories which mix buffalo milk with powdered milk from
Bolivia, cutting retail mozzarella costs by a third; they also
use lime to help ricotta "keep" longer. According to a
Commander of Naples' Carabinieri, the most flourishing business
is recycling expired products. The Camorra also passes off
low-quality imports with made-in-Campania labels, from
pesticide-laden Moldovan apples to E. coli-infested Moroccan
industrial salt. Organized crime is also heavily involved in
IPR fraud, from fake designer fashion bags to bogus DVDs;
Sicilian authorities even discovered recently several garages
where fake Ferraris were being manufactured.
Creating Chaos
--------------
¶8. (C) Organized crime also has insidious effects on the urban
landscape. Giap Parini, a researcher who met us at the
University of Calabria in Cosenza, says that it is wrong to
think of mob-infested cities as poor; on the contrary, they can
be inhabited by wealthy bosses. Behind the run-down exterior
walls are golden faucets and marble bathrooms. No, the main
characteristic of a mob city, Parini argues, is chaos.
Uncontrolled expansion, illegal construction, lack of green
spaces, failed urban planning, incomplete public works, poor
infrastructure, low educational standards, and general
government inefficiency are all signs of organized crime.
Mayors who try to install illumination in public areas often
find the lights broken within a day, as streetlamps are not
propitious for drug dealing. Naples Prosecutor GianDomenico
Lepore says politicians and citizens do not realize the burden
that organized crime is on the economy: "There's no development
here." Indeed, the Camorra made an enormous profit in the early
1980s by constructing public housing in Naples after a major
earthquake; today, these neighborhoods are characterized by
crumbling cement high-rises and an absence of piazzas, stores,
parks and trees.
¶9. (C) Ironically, according to University of Calabria
sociology professor Pietro Fantozzi, there are more giant
NAPLES 00000037 004.2 OF 004
shopping malls per capita in poverty-stricken Calabria than in
the prosperous Milan metropolitan area. Throughout Southern
Italy, highway exits are lined with luxury car dealerships,
expensive home decoration stores, and ostentatious,
neo-classical villas -- fantasies about which the general public
(nearly a third of whom are living at or below poverty level)
can only dream.
¶10. (SBU) Comment: Put all these factors together and it
becomes clear that organized crime is a major, if not the main
reason why the southern Italian economy lags so far behind that
of the rest of the country, and one of the main causes of
Italy's growth lagging behind the rest of the European Union.
Organized crime keeps away investors and ensures that small
businesses cannot become large, which in turn perpetuates the
high unemployment rates (averaging 20 percent in the South, and
35 percent for young people). Extortion and the imposition of
Mafia-associated suppliers make many businesses unprofitable;
business owners must compensate by raising prices and/or by not
paying taxes. Attempts by the government or the EU to spark
development in the South are frustrated by Mafia-run corruption
and mob fixing of contracts and sub-contracts. Legitimate
businesses are also undercut by Mafia-led production and
distribution of pirated and counterfeit products. Development
would create an alternative to organized crime that would put
its practitioners out of business, so it is in the mob's
interest to retard economic and social development. Not
surprisingly, a study published in January 2008 by researchers
at the Magna Grecia University of Catanzaro and Naples' Federico
II University showed that the presence of organized crime is a
strong disincentive for foreign investors. While the
established U.S. businesses in the South (almost all of which
are relatively large) have not complained to ConGen Naples about
organized crime, countless potential investors have expressed to
our Commercial Service office a reluctance to invest out of fear
of the mob. Southern Italy has few major U.S. investments
compared to the rest of the country. In the end, the costs of
organized crime are felt directly or indirectly by virtually
every Italian citizen. While the problem might seem
intractable, the third and final cable in this series will
examine ways Italy and the United States can successfully
confront organized crime. End comment.
TRUHN
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