Italy’s mafia turns to white-collar crime as murder, extortion fall out of favour

MILAN: Italy’s mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days.Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers. Just 17 people were killed by the mob in Italy in 2022, according to the latest official data, versus more than 700 in 1991.

Instead, mobsters have moved aggressively into the low-risk, low-key world of white-collar crime, senior Italian prosecutors told Reuters.The shift to tax evasion and financial fraud is being fuelled by billions of euros sloshing around Italy in post-Covid recovery funds that were designed to boost the economy but are proving a boon for fraudsters.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government revealed last month it had uncovered 16 billion euros ($17 billion) of fraud tied to home improvement schemes.Prosecutors are also looking into potentially massive abuse of a European Union stimulus package worth 200 billion.

Not all the fraud is being orchestrated by Italy’s powerful organised crime groups, prosecutors say, but they suspect that a lot is.“It would have been foolish to think they wouldn’t take advantage of a huge influx of cash,” said Barbara Sargenti, an official in the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office.