Berlusconi is Italys Mob Busting Prime Minister

Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may be the man who finally breaks the back of the Mafia in Italy. On Dec. 31, 2009, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni declared "total war" against the mafia. An average of eight criminals have been arrested every day since. Twenty-one out of Italy's thirty most wanted gangsters have been arrested, among them convicted multiple-murderers who had been on the run for years.

Those arrested have included most of the remaining leaders of the Casalesi clan exposed in Roberto Saviano's notorious book "Gomorrah." The mobster Giuseppe Bastone was captured in a subterranean hideout. The No. 2 leader of Sicily's mafia, Domenico "the veterinarian" Raccuglia, was captured in 2009 after 15 years on the run and subsequently condemned to life in jail for homicide, after dumping the teenage son of a mafia turncoat in acid.

Last year, detectives also arrested 70 suspected members of the Casalesi, including the fugitive, Franco Letizia. And, in a pre-dawn raid on July 13, Italian police arrested another 300 members of the 'Ndrangheta mafia syndicate, including the man police have dubbed "godfather," Domenico Oppedisano. This is the largest crackdown on organized crime in the past 20 years. "If there is a government that, more than any other, has made fighting the mafia one of its clearest and coherent goals, it is my government," Mr. Berlusconi claims. He is never a humble speaker, but in this case the facts do indisputably back him up.

Berlusconi has also extended a controversial prison system for mafia members known as "41-bis." It enables the state to lock up dangerous bosses in maximum-security jails and complete isolation. They live in small and dim cells, entirely cut off from the outside world. In 2002, Mr. Berlusconi made the measure a permanent fixture: "People have the right to not be afraid," he said.

Mr. Berlusconi’s government has also made efforts to take on the mafia in its financial control. Italian crime groups have transformed themselves into global financial enterprises. The four distinct mafia "families"—Sicily's Cosa Nostra, the Camorra from Campania, the 'Ndragheta of Calabria and the lesser known Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia—dominate the economic life of one third of Italy. According to the Italian business association Confesercenti, the business of "Mafia, Inc." had revenue of €135 billion in 2009, reinforcing its position as the "first company of Italy." Italy's Eurispes Institute estimated that the 'Ndrangheta's turnover alone amounts to the equivalent of 2.9% of Italy's GDP.

Under Mr. Berlusconi, the dispossession of mafia funds has risen by 89% compared to the previous government. Police recently seized assets totaling some €1.4 billion just from the businessmen linked to Matteo Messina Denaro, who took over command of the Sicilian mob in the wake of the 2006 arrest of the "boss of bosses," Bernardo Provenzano. In total, €3.5 billion was seized in 2007, €4.5 billion in 2008 and €5.4 billion in 2009.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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Tags: 'Ndrangheta, Anti Mafia, Camorra, Cosa Nostra, Italy, Organized Crime, Politics, Sacra Corona Unita