The “Green” industry is a new Mob Racket

Green isn’t just a color anymore. From solar energy to organic food, “green” describes loads of up-and-coming industries, which means money and that, in turn, means organized crime and corruption are not far behind.

Before the global recession began, clean energy jobs in the US alone grew nearly two and a half times faster than the overall job market, according to the Pew Center on the States. Governments around the world have recently pledged billions of dollars to renewable energy.

With growth expected to pick up when the recession retreats, crime groups will certainly follow the money. Already La Cosa Nostra may have horned in on EU-subsidized wind farms in Sicily. Other, less prominent organized crime groups are already involved in scam “green” recycling of cell phones and computers, and are likely to get involved in carbon-credit markets aimed to help developing countries preserve their forests.

Green crime is no different than other types of organized crime, said one criminologist.

“Number one, there are motivated people – people who look at it as easier to make money by committing crimes than by going to work every day or starting some legitimate business,” said
Professor Jay Albanese, a criminologist at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Then there are physical locations all around the planet where it’s conducive to conducting the illegal business, whether it’s rule of law issues, post-conflict issues, poorly trained police issues or corrupt public officials issues. And sometimes we often unintentionally create criminal opportunities, and thereby get the unwanted attention of people seeking to exploit those opportunities.”

Wind farms may be a good example of unintended consequences. Wind energy may help reduce carbon emissions, it’s a growth market, and governments will often subsidize building of wind farms. But the Sicilian Mafia is apparently as aware of these facts as are forward-thinking entrepreneurs. Italian anti-mafia magistrates are investigating two cases that allegedly involve mob families offering local politicians money and votes in exchange for permits, reported the Financial Times earlier this year.

The families – one in three larger Sicilian provinces, another around the western port of Trapani – may have been motivated by EU subsidies that guarantee rates of rates of €0.18 ($0.25 cents) per kilowatt hour for expected production, even if the farm doesn’t supply electricity to the Italian electrical system. (The average US rate last year was $0.11, according to the Department of Energy). In February, eight people were arrested in connection to the Trapani case, accused of helping the Mazara del Vallo family gain control of the wind farm business. The investigations have prompted officials in Sicily and mainland Calabria and Basilicata to suspend permits for new wind farms.

Wind farms aren’t the only green industry to be infiltrated by organized crime. According to one Interpol expert, a proposed program that may help developing countries preserve their forests is at risk from crime groups, even though the program is still in the planning stages.

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Tags: Cosa Nostra, Italy, Organized Crime, The EU