September 12, 2017

The Mafia and the Migrants

I spotted them on my way to dinner with a friend near Castel Gandolfo. They are migrants from Africa, sitting by the side of the road outside a “temporary” residence that, for many, appears to have become permanent. They all have cellphones. They all seem oblivious to us as we pass by.

I spotted them on my way to dinner with a friend near Castel Gandolfo. They are migrants from Africa, sitting by the side of the road outside a “temporary” residence that, for many, appears to have become permanent. They all have cellphones. They all seem oblivious to us as we pass by.

My friend, a Sicilian by birth, says they are people from African nations the Italian government has taken in. The state pays 90 Euros (about $108 U.S. dollars) per day, per person, he says, but the migrants receive only a pittance, due to skimming by the Mafia.

“The Mafia is still around?” I ask. “I thought it was a relic, as depicted in movies like ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Goodfellas.’”

“Not so,” he says. “They are getting rich off of these people and the government does nothing about it. They can’t go anywhere because the government won’t give most of them papers.”

The Mafia may or may not retain its infamous title, but the corruption that was part of the old order apparently remains by whatever name it is called.

Last March, the newspaper Gazetta del Sud reported that Luca Odevaine, a former senior police officer and city official, admitted taking bribes of 5,000 Euros a month from a senior member of a Mafia gang to act as their “facilitator.”

In a highly publicized trial two months ago, 59-year-old Massimo Carminati, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating a “mafia-style network” that, reported The Guardian newspaper, “used extortion, fraud and theft to divert millions of Euros that had been destined for public services.”

Carminati, it said, is “the ringleader of a gang whose criminal tentacles reached into almost every department of Rome’s City Hall.”

Carminati’s right-hand man, 61-year-old Salvatore Buzzi, was sentenced to 19 years in prison. In all, 46 people were tried and received various sentences. Only five were acquitted.

The skimming schemes have left the Eternal City so short of cash it not only is having difficulty helping migrants find a place to live — and assist them to find jobs — it is having difficulty repairing its buses when they break down, filling potholes or even keeping the city’s trees healthy so they don’t fall over and block traffic or injure pedestrians.

In July, The Guardian reported, “The city’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, said a deep wound had been inflicted on Rome by ‘a criminal association able to heavily influence the political decisions of this city.’ She added: ‘We are paying the price every day. We now need to stitch the wound back together by taking the path of legality — no easy task. We need to keep our eyes peeled [for corruption] at all times.’”

Eyes have been deliberately blinded, not peeled, by people on the take, which has left too many others, especially the migrants, suffering in limbo because the money they should be receiving has been diverted into the pockets of organized crime and corrupt officials.

In Europe the debate over migrants continues with Germany’s Angela Merkel saying she would change nothing about her open border policy. Opinion polls show she leads her opponents ahead of Germany’s September 24 election.

Italy’s experience with shifting demographics is unique. As the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) reports, “Italians have accounted for the largest voluntary emigration in recorded history, with 13 million leaving between 1880 and 1915.” The exit has been so substantial and exacerbated by the nation’s low birth rate that foreign workers must be imported to do jobs native Italians once did.

The MPI report notes: “By accident of geography, Italy has played an outsized role in the current European migration crisis, receiving more than 335,000 irregular arrivals via the Mediterranean during 2015-16.”

That so many have been mistreated is a scandal to everyone, except the Mafia.

© 2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.