southern italy is as corrupted as mexico but italy as a whole not

I see it as being comparable to American law enforcement in that the locals are still somewhat corruptible, yet on the National level it's a lot more difficult to buy yourself legal protection.

italy does top corruption charts among west eu nations

but comparing it to mexico is simply ridiculous, even if we focus on the south alone


this

the south is extremely corrupted so it's comparable with mexico

Top mafia informer leads cops to AK-47s
Iovine considered most dangerous mobster to change sides

(ANSA) - Naples, May 30 - The most dangerous Italian mobster ever to turn State's witness on Friday helped police find four AK-47s inside the home of another mafioso. Antonio Iovine, a top Camorra boss whose decision to become informer made international headlines earlier this month, led police to the automatic assault rifles at the home of Antonio Cioffo, convicted for associating with the Naples-based Camorra mafia.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_...296b9aa4fd.html

^^^ unbelievable. I wonder if Iovine has his family safe in hiding.

yes, police brought his immediate family with helicopters to hide location in northern italy

Oh ok, I didn't know that, but I was sure they'd have to. There's still going to be a lot of bloodshed over this, I think. Anyone related...cousins, uncles, whoever.

anyway he's not the most dangerous mobster ever to turn state's witness
giovanni brusca killed between 200 and 300 men by himself

lol but these are current headlines and those words are good for media attention.

I hope so. It's not their fault .

True but he's going to pay one way or another. They can't possibly hide his entire family that carries the Iovine name. He's put them all at risk now. And wit sec in Italy isn't like over here. They toss you into a new location and shout, "ruuuun Forrest ruuuuun...." They're vulnerable no matter where.

Oh, absolutely. He put his entire extended family in harm's way. It's a shame, and it's a MUCH more selfish move in Italy than it is here.

Is there much of a mafia presence in northern Italy? It has to be at least a little safer up there.

of course there is much of a mafia presence in northern italy, especially 'ndrangheta

two brothers roberto and giovanni scognamiglio have been killed tonight by camorra in torre annunziata, napoli

http://www.ilmattino.it/NAPOLI/CRONACA/omicidio-due-fratelli-uccisi-in-casa/notizie/719468.shtml

that has been widely discussed around the forums

just search around and you'll find plenty of topics

Rocco Castiglione, 38, was killed and his brother Raffaele, 34, was unhurt in an ambush carried out in Roccabernarda in Crotone. Both are known to the police for various offenses. The ambush was carried out in the locality Salinella, near the stables of the two.

Thanks to Hollander for posting this on another board.

Well it's more of a threat relationship than a bribe. If you're a local politician in northern Mexico especially in Tamaulipas state where the Gulf and Los Zetas operate. And receive a envolope with cash it's taken more of as a threat than bribe. It's either the cash or bullets and the poorer the town the less powerful politicians are. Mexico's political power is really centralized on the D.F area and Mexico city. So the local politicians are usually left to fend for themselves and politicians in poor states can't afford to buy guards and if they do either they are killed or corrupted. They can't rely on the local authorities because they don't get a good salary and are corrupted or simply intimidated by the local captains. The cartels don't have to buy everyone they just simply need to corrupt the police in charge of operations and the police chief and maybe a dozen or two police to act as informants. It so bad in Tamaulipas that the some police are lured into the cartel lifestyle and move up the ladder to get more money and power. That's why the Gulf Cartel is so notorious for having AEI in their structure. Now the Los Zeta are having the same luxury as well. The Sinaloa cartel walk a fine line between corruption/bribe and fear. They are more generous to their politicians and give them more money than Los Zetas or Gulf and is more comparable to the Mafia in Italy in terms of political connection. The Caballeros Temolarios are the worst they started to freaking extort the politicians to simply operate in Michoacan. That's why the people revolted against them because they wanted to extort everything. They walked the line when they started to rape daughters and mothers. That's when the people said enough and revolted against them. As a result most of it's leadership got taken down by the federal government because an civilian momevement that was going in Michoacan was more of a threat to the government than the cartels. So they had to step in to take down the bosses as quickly as possible and stop the civilian movement from spreading or gaining influence in other states. The PRI are bunch of power hungry assholes. Sure some drug bosses do have political connections to some powerful people in the federal government but since Calderon put a spotlight on the cartels and declared war on them many of the powerful bosses have gone down with their political connections with them. The newer drug bosses in Los Zetas and Gulf Cartel don't have the same connections. Also most politicians and especially powerful ones don't want to associate themselves with the cartels. It's mainly with the local authorities were much of the organized crime corruption lays. Some powerful politicians like Moreira(the state governor of Coahuila) declared war on Los Zetas and Trevino personally. Moreira was a known powerful politician from the PRI and one of the most known and proven politicians to be corrupted as hell. So there was some natural tension between him and Los Zetas(both of them of power hungry assholes) as he saw his police get corrupted by them. So he financed his own state police called GAFES to take down or simply get rid of Los Zetas from his state. As he arrested some high ranking Zeta bosses that operated in Coahuila(Moreira's state) one of them being a cousin of ex Los Zetas leader Trevino or more known as Z-40. Trevino took it personally so he killed his nephew in retaliation and the bastard Trevino even put a sign saying "Eye for an eye" and that's when shit hit the fan. It was a literary a war between PRI politician Moreira and Trevino. It was amusing to see a powerful known corrupt politician and Los Zetas go to war over power that really got personal. The GAFES and Los Zetas would go at it shooting each other on the streets. I think someone should write a book about it because of the interesting scenario a powerful well known PRI politician vs Los Zetas leader Miguel Angel Trevino aka Z-40.

Police arrest 16 in 'Ndrangheta mafia sting
Crea clan accused of extortion, contract-rigging in Rizziconi

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, June 4 - Italian police on Wednesday arrested 16 in a sting against the Crea clan of the 'Ndrangheta mafia, a gang based in the town of Rizziconi that is part of the powerful Calabrian organized crime group.
The arrests included the clan's alleged crime boss and patriarch, Teodoro Crea, 65, as well as Crea's wife, children and daughter-in-law.
One of Teodoro Crea's sons, Giuseppe, 36, remains a fugitive.
Three former Rizziconi city councilors were among those stopped by police.
Police also seized assets worth an estimated five million euros, including villas, land and bank accounts. Investigators are probing accusations of pressure against the public administration, extortion, corruption in public bids, and fraud against the European Union.
Ex-mayor Antonino Bartuccio - elected March 2010 on a civic list - has played a "fundamental" role in the probe, collaborating with police and reporting irregularities from the beginning of his term. In April 2011, the mayor and his nine councilors resigned over the extent of clan infiltration in the city administration and interference in municipal affairs, allegedly to facilitate the Crea clan's illegal interests.
Threats and intimidation ultimately led to the resignations and dissolution of the administration.
The municipality of Rizziconi, located east of the major southern port of Gioia Tauro, has a long history of 'Ndrangheta mafia influence and control.
The municipal administration was also dissolved in 1995 and 2000.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...56463818e8.html

claudio fiorentino, arrested in 2010 on charges of mafia association and extortions, has been gunned down in bari, apulia

http://www.baritoday.it/cronaca/omicidio-giovinazzo-ucciso-cladio-fiorentino-3-giugno-2014.html

Maxi operation of the provincial command of the police in Palermo. engaged in the execution of 31 stops against leaders and followers of the district Mafia Bagheria at the conclusion of a complex investigative activities coordinated by the local DDA.

Among the firm after investigation by the police, coordinated by the prosecutor Francesco Messineo, dall'aggiunto Leonardo Agueci, and substitutes Malagoli Catherine and Francesca Mazzocco, there are excellent names as Charles Guttadauro - brother of Philip and Joseph - Chief of Sour ten. There are Comparetto Joseph, a man of honor Villabate, and Emanuele Modica, Casteldaccia, considered affiliated with the Canadian mafia, who in 2004 escaped death in an ambush in Montreal.

In handcuffs in the operation called "Reset", also Messicati Anthony Vitale, who returned to Italy a few months (after a brief hiding in Bali, where he was identified and arrested) and released on a technicality. Among those arrested are Joseph Di Fiore, Giovanni Pietro Flamia, Salvatore Lo Piparo, Giovanni Di Salvo, Michele Modica and Emanuele Cecala, the latter also held responsible for any acts of violence.

Translated using Google Translate

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABPUM-DIi1s

Source: http://palermo.blogsicilia.it/colpo-alla-mafia-di-bagheria-i-nomi-degli-arrestati/258413/

Informant says Berlusconi ex-undersecretary 'cosa nostra'
Cosentino 'repeatedly met with Camorra bosses, arranged bribes'

(ANSA) - Caserta, June 4 - The allegedly Camorra mafia-linked politician Nicola Cosentino, a former undersecretary to three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, was "our thing" said a Camorra informant in a Caserta courtroom on Wednesday.
In a judicial meeting, Camorra clan member and informant Roberto Vargas described Cosentino as "cosa nostra" (our thing), a reference to Mafia membership and said that the politician had met with Casalesi head Francesco "Sandokan" Schiavone to talk about contracts and politics.
"Cosentino met with Sandokan after his release in 1993 and before the Spartacus raid (1995). The two met in the warehouse annex of Vicenzo Cantiello's shoe shop. (Cantiello is a relative of boss Salvatore Cantiello). Cantiello told this in 2003 after he left his cell. Then in the course of the years, Nicola Schiavone (son of Sandokan) told me many times that Cosentino was 'cosa nostra'", said Vargas.
Vargas also said that Cosentino took care of the bribes to companies building the Sparanise power station near Caserta.
"Nicola Schiavone told me that we should not do anything because Cosentino had closed the deal with a bribe of 20 thousand euro each month, delivered into the hands of the cashier of the Nicolino Panaro clan".
Cosentino was arrested in April along with 12 others for alleged extortion and unfair competition in favor of his family petrol-pump business in the southern Campania region Also on his rap sheet is a March 2013 arrest on suspicion of collusion with the Neapolitan mafia for alleged links with the powerful Casalesi clan whose death threats have forced anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano into 24-hour police protection.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...d5b0474d67.html

Camorra fugitive caught
On the run for three months from 11-year conviction

(ANSA) - Naples, June 9 - Italian police on Monday caught a fugitive member of the Neapolitan Camorra mafia.
Domenico Cesarano, 58, a suspected affiliate of the Vesuvian Fabbricino clan, was found in a seaside home with his wife.
He had been on the run for over three months from an 11-year conviction for loan sharking and racketeering.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...8376e2e2ad.html

Calabria farm councillor probed for mafia
Michele Trematerra 'helped 'Ndrangheta land contracts'

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, June 10 - Calabria's farm councillor, Michele Trematerra, has been placed under investigation on suspicion of links to the region's powerful 'Ndrangheta mafia, judicial sources said Tuesday.
Trematerra, of the small post-Christian-Democrat UDC party, is suspected of helping 'Ndrangheta-linked businessmen win contracts from the regional government, they said.
Fifteen people are being probed including the former mayor and an ex-councillor in the town of Acri.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...853bef50d7.html

Trevinos nephew was killed.thats y mereiras nephew was shot and kolled.not arrested.lazcano was still alive then i believe.and the templarios dont just extort politicians.chayos nephew was 1of the most powerful in the state of michoachan and os getting out of jail.i know about the autodefensas.there fukn great.mexicos needed them a long time.but there also corrupted. Look at el americano and papa smurf(estanislao beltran i believe).ive read they both work for templariod

Eco-mafia crimes, 80 per day, reap 15 bn euros in 2013
321 organized-crime groups involved

(ANSA) - Rome, June 11 - An average of over three environmental infractions were committed in Italy every hour last year, reported the Italian environmental association Legambiente on Wednesday.
In discussing its 2014 report, the group noted that 29,274 infractions were committed in 2013, that revenue from the crimes topped 15 billion euros and that 321 organized crimes groups had been involved. The financial takings from environmental crimes was down from some 16 billion euros the previous year, though profits from illegal special waste management remained at 3.1 billion euros and illegal building was still at 1.7 billion. A whopping 47% of the environmental crimes recorded last year were in the four regions known for high level of organized crimes: Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...c856309168.html

Dell'Utri extradited from Lebanon
Former Berlusconi aide faces seven-year Mafia sentence

(ANSA) - Fiumicino, June 13 - Former Berlusconi aide Marcello Dell'Utri was handed over to Interpol agents and extradited from Lebanon to Italy to face a seven-year Mafia conviction on Friday. His plane touched down at Rome Fiumicino early Friday morning amid high security and anti-Mafia agents served him notice that he must serve jail time before he was taken to Rome's Rebibbia prison in an ambulance. Dell'Utri, a former close aide of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's, left Italy without authorisation and went to Beirut before the Supreme Court last month upheld a seven-year jail term against him for the Mob ties, making the conviction definitive.
Dell'Utri, 72, is the former head of the advertising arm of Berlusconi's business empire and is credited with creating the three-time premier's centre-right party, Forza Italia, in 1993, six months before it swept to victory in general elections.
At the original trial in Palermo, the former Senator was found to have sealed "a pact of protection" with Cosa Nostra for Berlusconi at a meeting in May 1974.
The court said that meeting "formed the genesis of the relationship that linked the businessman (Berlusconi) and the Mafia with Dell'Utri's mediation".
Berlusconi employed a Mafia boss and killer recommended by Dell'Utri, the late Vittorio Mangano, as an stable manager in the mid 1970s. It is alleged that this appointment was to protect his children from the kind of kidnappings that were then rampant in Italy.
Dell'Utri's lawyers said the case against him was built on testimony from ex-Cosa Nostra informants that lacked credibility.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/06/...97296b3447.html

Iovine urges ex-cohorts to come clean
'Casaelesi clan has no future' says Iovine

Scrivi alla redazione
(ANSA) - Naples, June 13 - The most dangerous Italian mobster ever to turn State's witness urged his former cohorts to come clean on Friday. "I invite those who were close and committed these crimes with me to speak with magistrates," said Antonio Iovine, a top boss in the Naples-based Camorra whose decision to become informer made world headlines last month.
His statement was made via a video link in a trial against the former mayor of Villa Literno, a town outside Naples, and other suspects for alleged links to the Camorra. Iovine, also known as 'o ninno', is considered one of the four former bosses of the powerful Casalesi Camorra clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta, whose death threats have forced anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano, of Gomorrah fame, into 24-hour police protection.
The others are Francesco Bidognetti, Francesco Schiavone (aka Sandokan) and Michele Zagaria.
Iovine, 50, is currently serving a life sentence for multiple murder and other crimes under Italy's tough prison regime for organised criminals, the so-called article 41-bis, after being captured in November 2010 following 15 years on the run.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in January 2010 along with Bidognetti, Schiavone and Zagaria following the 12-year so-called Spartacus maxi trial against the Casalesi clan.
Saviano has hailed Iovine's "repentance" as "the biggest blow ever" against the Camorra.
Mafia experts say it is even more significant than the 1980s evidence of former top Cosa Nostra figure Tommaso Buscetta, because Buscetta's evidence, which eventually implicated late Christian Democrat statesman Giulio Andreotti, regarded events much prior to his capture.
Iovine was also in a position to keep pulling the strings despite the severe conditions of his incarceration, Camorra analysts said.
Speaking through the courtroom video-conference call Friday, Iovine said he has known since his time on the run that the Casalesi clan "had no future," a conviction that has solidified during his detention.