It's been a rough few days for Italy's Mafia families as the criminal justice system continues to break their illegitimate hold over the legitimate economy.
Last Friday a Naples court convicted 30 mobsters from Cosa Nostra or Sicilian Mafia and the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia who had formed "an alliance to control fruit and vegetable markets across southern and central Italy" as reported by ANSA.
Meanwhile, police yesterday arrested fourteen suspected Camorristi pursuant to a probe into the illegal transport of toxic waste as reported by ANSA, and today arrested four suspected members from the Menditti clan of the Camorra for their alleged roles in "preying on construction and video-game companies" as reported by ANSA.
In 2011 Italian police seized three billion euros or $4 billion from the country's Mafia as reported by ANSA: "the police targeted 8,500 individuals and 14,000 companies."
$4 billion is only a fraction of the combined yearly earnings of the various Italian Mafia groups. They earned 140 billion euros last year, and if the Mafia truly feels like their grip on the economy is threatened, there will be hell to pay. The fact that there hasn't been any assassinations of government officals and Carabinieri means that business is too good to risk it all.
Posted by: Clinton Fussell | 01/31/2012 at 10:09 AM