Covid and the Mafia
Robert Cole
Organized crime, much like a disease, becomes stronger when its host is weaker. Since the 1800s, Italy has been the home of various criminal organizations collectively known as the mafia. Now reeling from a particularly difficult struggle with covid-19, the country has experienced a resurgence of these groups that is spreading across Europe and even as far as the United States. This process has been aided by increased globalization, years of slow economic growth, and a decades-long shift in law enforcement focus away from organized crime and toward Islamist terror threats.
In 2020, Italy experienced more deaths than any year since World War II. With the spring of 2021 came the latest in a string of tight lockdowns to try to minimize spread, but it also shut down the economy so tightly that some Italians can no longer afford food. Closed businesses leave owners with no income and willing to sell for low prices. This is where the mafia steps in, offering to buy out businesses for basement prices or providing families with food in return for favors later. An extortion hotline in Italy has received a 100% increase in the volume of calls, as the mafia comes around to collect. The Italian government has been slow to step in to help distressed citizens, and legal loans from the government can be too slow or come with too many requirements that small businesses cannot meet.
The mafia’s growth doesn’t just affect Italy however. According to the head of Europol’s organized crime division, organized crime is the single largest threat to European security, outranking terrorism or immigration. Distressed businesses from Spain to Slovakia have been infiltrated by the mafia, which it uses for money laundering and as bases of operation. Many countries, afraid of taking the PR hit associated with admitting to a mafia problem, have sat on their hands as the problem grows. In the US, the mafia is reportedly strengthening its Italian connections, working more closely with the infamous ‘Ndrangheta syndicate. The American mob is also aided by the fact that much of the FBI’s attention has been drawn toward terrorism following the 9/11 attacks, with its associated task forces maintaining less than 10% of their pre-attack personnel numbers.
This concerning spread of organized crime can still be counteracted by international law enforcement cooperation and by a comprehensive effort to support those at risk of mafia predation. The resurgence of the mafia reveals the side effects of economic crisis and how hard times in one country can generate regional insecurity. The damage wrought by organized crime will likely cost more than solving the underlying economic distress that enables them, a fact that should be remembered as the world looks to rebuild in a post-covid environment.