Gratteri: ''To fight the Camorra we need to invest in technology''

Camorra and 'Ndrangheta compared
“The 'Ndrangheta is tougher, cruder and drier, it exercises absolute control of the territory and has a cult of rules that keeps everyone as rigid as so many toy soldiers” . It is no coincidence that within Calabrian organized crime, the level of justice collaborators is very low. “ Here in Naples, from my point of view, there are many levels of Camorra. The thing that impressed me most are these young people who shoot in the squares, in the streets, and I have difficulty seeing them as Camorra. In the logic of the 'Ndrangheta - explained Gratteri - two boys who start shooting at eye level on the motorbike, the next day, in Calabria, would be caught and melted like soap. Because in Calabria there is a belief that the 'Ndrangheta must not lose its prestige or its leadership . Through the memory of a telephone interception that took place in Calabria, in which an emissary of the crime of San Luca intervenes to resolve an internal feud using a far-sighted perspective, which might seem unusual, Gratteri explained the difficulties he had to overcome to intercept the logic bell criminal. In particular, regarding the " stretches" . A Camorra phenomenon which consists in quickly crossing the streets of the city on scooters, shooting, sometimes even at eye level, and forcing people in the street to lie down on the ground in an attempt to take cover. “ I had difficulty understanding and metabolizing these 'words', which were not able to give me a logic of a criminal nature. I remember a criminal interception in Calabria, in which an emissary of the San Luca crime scene intervened to quell an internal feud and said: 'Be careful because when you shoot at cars, shutters, or at lawyers, you terrorize the people, and what you have done in 30 years, you will no longer have, because the people will have already abandoned you. This is because - continued prosecutor Gratteri - the mafias need popular consensus to exist." - he continues - “ Perhaps, in the world of the dark web, the Camorra is ahead of the 'Ndrangheta. He manages to buy weapons, cocaine and order murders. In Naples I saw specialists who manage to navigate the dark web in a mafia-like, but also managerial and entrepreneurial way. For this reason it is necessary to create working groups made up of magistrates who work on the dark web, or police groups made up of people capable of studying the means of communication that a Camorra member uses to talk to another person who is in Dubai, in Bogota, or in New York ”. It's still:“Today, we have mafias that are able to communicate above our heads, to build new applications to communicate without being intercepted. This is the technology gap that we need to fill as soon as possible. Also for this reason the government must necessarily invest in software capable of decrypting these means of communication, which are technologically very advanced".


Do wiretaps really cost too much?
Are wiretaps an expensive investigative activity? How much do they cost exactly? According to the ministry, all the wiretaps that the prosecutors carry out with the authorization of the investigating judge cost 170 million euros. However, the cost to consider for keeping a phone monitored for 24 hours is only three euros, basically, two coffees. “These would be the big costs? - observed Gratteri - Nobody talks about the value of goods that are seized every day, which could be put up for sale immediately afterwards. Does no one ever account for these assets, such as cars, watches or luxury homes? How many wads of banknotes do we find hidden inside the walls, under the floors, or in the safes”. After Justice Minister Carlo Nordio stated that mafiosi don't talk on the phone, criticism, doubts and perplexities arose. Precisely regarding this delicate issue, Gratteri explained: " Before speaking we should study to avoid saying nonsense. On the phone the mafiosi will never say: 'Sorry but I'm not coming to dinner tonight because I'm going to kill that guy'. It can happen, however, that a mafioso calls a person with a clean criminal record on the phone to say: 'See you at the bar'. Now, for those who speak inside Parliament, perhaps it means nothing, but for me, a mafia investigator, that information is gold. A phone call from a mafia member is important, especially if made to call someone with a clean criminal record. Since from an investigative path backwards, I can get to the mafia boss." - he continues - “ There are times when I hear people say: 'We, for mafia and terrorism trials, don't touch wiretaps'. And what about crimes of corruption, extortion and embezzlement? In that case, is it possible to use the Trojan for wiretapping? If you forbid me from using the Trojan to carry out an investigation into the public administration, you will severely limit me. Often - Gratteri specified - I get from the public administration to the mafia, but rarely from the mafia do I manage to get to the public administration".