https://www.corrieredellacalabria.i...ema-tripartito-e-il-consorzio-criminale/the rules of crime
"Without shooting everything changed". The 'ndrangheta, the tripartite system and the criminal consortium
Rituals and gifts end up in the attic. Calabria remains the mother country, but in Milan the underworld imposes itself with the force of a multi-headed monster
Published: 26/12/2024 – 7:00
MILAN The image is no longer that of the illiterate shepherd with a flat cap and a rifle, but of a distinguished man, capable of relating to the assiduous frequenters of the control rooms and the salons of power, "armed" with a briefcase full of cash. The mafia has changed, the 'ndrangheta is evolving. Extortion demands under threat and pressure are gradually being replaced by the "impositions" of raw materials or other goods sold by apparently clean companies and corporations, gravitating in the galaxy of the clans.
Conquering Milan
It does not seem absurd, therefore, difficult to imagine how and why the interests and appetites of the Calabrian mafia have rapidly moved to the North, especially to Milan: the capital of finance. " Without gunfire, everything has changed ," says someone intercepted in a recent investigation into mafia organizations in Lombardy. The phrase is emblematic, and shows how public relations have gradually replaced rifles and pistols, words and not blood to do business and increase the availability of illicit money. "Fictitious registrations are the crimes that we find most frequently in investigations, they have taken the place of extortion," Alessandra Dolci , head of the Milan DDA, tells Avvenire . A circumstance that is confirmed by the charges raised in the investigations and aimed at alleged members of mafia-style criminal associations: bankruptcy, tax fraud, fraud against the state."
The tripartite model
Dolci illustrates the details referred to and referable to the new deal imposed by organized crime. « It is a tripartite model that sees the presence of a medium-large sized client company, a filter company that acquires the contract and, at the base, a series of production and work cooperatives that are mere containers of manpower, remain alive for no more than two or three years and, above all, are total tax evaders». The model is based on the issuing of false invoices and for non-existent transactions, through the transfer of «fictitious credits ».
The rules of the game change, the 'ndrine change
That criminal world governed by laws imposed through violence no longer exists. The Milan prosecutor confirms. « The most classic manifestations of being a member of the mafia have almost disappeared: the meals, the affiliation rituals, the conferral of dowries (…) the use of violence has become residual, but, be careful, this does not mean that a genetic mutation is taking place in the 'ndrangheta that leads it back to a phenomenon of economic deviance. The structure remains unchanged, with the connection between the Lombard localities and Calabria ». The native land remains the nerve centre of business, the central government of the division of business and resolution of disputes. And the Calabrian localities of reference, «are always the same: Platì, San Luca, Africo (the “Mountain”), Rosarno, Gioia Tauro (the Plain) », Dolci underlines to Avvenire .
The Multi-Headed Monster
The blows dealt by the frequent and numerous operations represent a brake on the expansion of the 'ndrine: capable however of regenerating themselves. The image offered by “ Hydra ”, the multi-headed monster, is emblematic. It was chosen as the code name for one of the most important investigative activities concluded in Northern Italy, where «a new phenomenon was recorded: a consortium between Cosa Nostra, Camorra and 'ndrangheta ». A non-belligerence pact sanctioned between criminal leaders and summarized in an extract of a wiretap that ended up in the investigation documents. « We had everything authorized by Milan…passing through Calabria, Naples ». (f.benincasa@corrierecal.it)
