As regards organised crime, in Sicily, "Cosa Nostra" is fully active and is aiming at strengthening its economic power in the future, at protecting its nature of interprovincial organisation, at avoiding to be excluded from the cooperation system between major Italian and foreign criminal organisations.

As regards illicit trafficking activities, "Cosa Nostra" is still active in the field of extortions, one of its major economic resources, as shown by investigations conducted on the Borgo Vecchio "family", operating in the Borgo Vecchio area in downtown Palermo.

Investigations conducted in the different provinces established that "Cosa Nostra" is still involved in a reorganisation process, that causes internal disagreements and local conflicts.

Within the "families" there is a general use of accomplices and associates. The latter are playing an increasingly significant role and are often entrusted with tasks that were, in the past, entrusted only to "men of honour"; therefore, associates are used in all fields, including drug trafficking and murders.

The traditional ceremony of initiation of the "man of honour" is becoming uncommon and when it happens, it is a process for only a very restricted number of individuals. In other words, "cosa nostra" is in the process of becoming a "slender" organisation, including an élite level with a small number of "men of honour", accurately selected and entrusted with sensitive tasks. However, since the organisation has to manage also criminal activities that require enforcers, this task is entrusted with external individuals, and the organisation maintains its control role.

As regards the functioning of "families", nothing has changed essentially: they maintain a pyramidal structure; they control their territory, while the "cash" is managed in the interest of the "family", they pay associates and provide for the needs of incarcerated members.

As compared to previous years, the steady decrease in the number of murders committed should not be considered as a weakness indicator but rather as further evidence of the "normalization process" occurring within "Cosa Nostra", that is able to manage organised and common crime by decreasing the use of violence.

Indeed, as regards rumours concerning Bernardo PROVENZANO and the fact that he would be willing to give himself up to the police or that he would not be able any longer to play his role because of his bad health, there is reason to believe that the leaders, who have been close to him for several years, already made the necessary arrangements in order to continue the management of "Cosa Nostra", by preparing a collective leadership or by finding a replacement.

Figures who are close to PROVENZANO include several incarcerated individuals like Benedetto SANTAPAOLA, Giuseppe MADONIA, Pietro AGLIERI and Giuseppe FARINELLA, who are in charge, as shown by investigations, of the practical direction of "Cosa Nostra" criminal activities in their respective areas of origin. Because of their number and individual significance, this group is an important element, together with several fugitives from justice, like Matteo MESSINA DENARO, Vincenzo VIRGA, Antonino GIUFFRE’, Benedetto SPERA, Salvatore LO PICCOLO and PROVENZANO himself, of the current leadership of Cosa Nostra.

As a result, the incarceration of several leading figures will probably cause an attempt to obtain better conditions for inmates, especially those who are subject to the restrictions provided for by Article 41 bis.

Therefore, it is likely that, in the future, Cosa Nostra members will aim at identifying several convenient solutions such as the opportunity to become cooperating witnesses in order to avoid, at least, the special incarceration system.

Such a trend would obviously involve some form of exchange with the government; this opportunity does not appear to hamper a policy of parasitic existence with the government, that Cosa Nostra is currently attempting to achieve, and that even Salvatore RIINA would appear to approve; indeed, he stopped some time ago issuing challenges and indicating targets to hit.

Moreover, it should be noted that figures like the ones mentioned above represent Cosa Nostra’s economic and financial power; SANTAPAOLA and MADONIA control public contracts in Central and Eastern Sicily, while FARINELLA is the most significant figure within the Gangi "mandamento", through which Cosa Nostra in Palermo, as it recently surfaced, controls the companies engaged in important public works in the province of Messina.

Based on information available, it is not possible to assess accurately the objectives targeted by mafia members. However, it should be noted that there is a rather obvious conflict between allegations of the trend to become cooperating witnesses and elements indicating a full control of the territory by the mafia, a gradual reintroduction in the context of international organised crime and the definite choice to focus their efforts on the control of public contracts.

This is obviously part of a large-scale project and there is reason to believe that main objectives include the attempt to reduce the heavy effects caused by the government’s response to the extreme violence of the "bombings wing".

1. The situation in the provinces

A review of the situation existing in the Sicilian provinces shows that in Sicily the mafia organisation is controlled mainly by the above-mentioned figures, with the exception of some areas where rival groups operate, including several groups belonging to the bombings faction.

In Palermo and its province, the situation does not appear to have changed since the previous year. Most "families" are controlled by Bernardo PROVENZANO, who is assisted by Salvatore LO PICCOLO and his son Sandro, both fugitives from justice, who are allegedly in charge of most of the urban territory, and in particular, of the "mandamenti" of San Lorenzo, Passo di Rigano and Gangi, including the coast area up to Cefalù and part of the territory of Messina, including the towns of Mistretta and Tortorici.

Moreover, PROVENZANO controls an area extending from Trabia to the Madonie, that mafia members call the "mandamento" of Caccamo, where the most important figure is Antonino GIUFFRE’, a fugitive from justice allied with PROVENZANO.

At the end of the month of February of this year, Giuseppe GAETA was murdered in Termini Imerese; he was the head of the local "family" belonging to the above-mentioned "mandamento". The lack of any reaction to the murder of a "family head" indicates that he was isolated and that the organisation is firmly controlled by GIUFFRE’.

However, there are areas in this province that PROVENZANO is still not able to fully control and where there are local groups belonging to the bombings faction of Cosa Nostra; this was the case, for example, in Partinico, where it was established that there is a leading figure belonging to this faction, Vito VITALE, though incarcerated.

Moreover, there are problems in controlling the territory also in the area between Misilmeri and Belmonte Mezzagno, where another ally of PROVENZANO is subject to the violent attack from a surfacing group aiming at obtaining the control of economic activities managed by Benedetto SPERA and his men.

As established by investigations conducted in recent years, the province of Trapani is controlled by Matteo MESSINA DENARO in the area including Castelvetrano and the neighbouring cities, and by Vincenzo VIRGA in the city of Trapani and its surroundings.

The above-mentioned individuals are both fugitives from justice in a territory having a high mafia density and with geographical characteristics particularly convenient for those who want to avoid law enforcement activities.

The lack of elements indicating conflicts, moreover, shows that there are no disagreements between the two fugitive leaders and that, therefore, "Cosa Nostra" is compact in this province.

In June, a law enforcement operation led to the arrest of several individuals who assisted the fugitive Matteo MESSINA DENARO and to the identification of two residences where the above-mentioned subject had found a shelter; one of this residences is located in an area of the city of Bagheria (Palermo), while the other is in the Brancaccio area of Palermo.

This fact is extremely interesting, since the area of Bagheria is allegedly controlled by PROVENZANO and it was there that his ally, Pietro AGLIERI, was hiding when he was arrested in 1997; the Brancaccio "family" is still controlled by the GRAVIANO brothers, who, in 1993, along with Matteo MESSINA DENARO, had been the key figures in the carrying out of the bombings in Florence, Milan and Rome and were trusted by BAGARELLA and RIINA.

Since one of the main rules concerning the status of fugitive is that you should hide in a friendly area, there is reason to believe that MESSINA DENARO has a good relationship to both PROVENZANO and the GRAVIANOs. If this is the case, it could reveal that the two rival factions within "Cosa Nostra" are getting close to one another.

Investigations conducted in recent years on the "families" of "Cosa Nostra" in the Agrigento area indicate that this organisation is extremely effective and complex. Significant information was gathered during an investigation concerning the Favara "family", about which there were no recent elements available and whose existence was even in doubt.

It was established that this "family" includes a great number of members, that it is subdivided in several "decine", coordinated by a family head and by a "council" formed by the "capi decina".

Moreover, it was possible to obtain significant information that indicates that the provincial structure is working on a regular basis and is using a "representative" on the territory who is formally acknowledged. It was also established that there are links between the "families" in Agrigento and the "families" in Caltanissetta, and this fact is further evidence that "Cosa Nostra" still maintains its nature of interprovincial organisation.

In this regard, it should be noted that, according to investigative elements gathered in 1997, MADONIA had, at that time, a significant role in the management of public contracts also in the province of Agrigento. The maintaining of links between the mafia organisations in these two provinces would therefore indicate that the situation is essentially unchanged.

Currently, in the province of Caltanissetta, "Cosa Nostra" is under the control of Giuseppe MADONIA, who seems to have reorganised the structure with the assistance of particularly trusted individuals.

The organisation still maintains a very low level of visibility - indeed, no significant violent crimes were committed - in accordance with the strategy of normalization at a regional level, while it maintains its policy aiming at the total control over the territory.

Recently, within the Caltanissetta mafia organisation the two opposed strategies of PROVENZANO and RIINA reflected on the creation of two factions headed respectively by Giuseppe MADONIA, of a more moderate trend, and by Giuseppe CAMMARATA, linked to the more intransigent faction of "Cosa Nostra". The most recent information gathered about this conflict situation, which is apparently in a "sleeping" stage, allegedly indicates a fight in order to obtain public contracts for businesses linked to one faction or the other.

Indeed, these elements surfaced during investigations conducted in the province of Enna, but are valid for the province of Caltanissetta as well, since both provinces complete each other, as far as the criminal situation is concerned.

Particular attention should be focused on the criminal situation in Gela, that is characterized by the existence of another criminal organisation, called "stidda", along with "Cosa Nostra".

Currently, both organisations, that were rivals in past, are jointly managing extortions against local businessmen and shop owners.

This cooperation will lead to new conflicts, since the "stidda" intends to obtain part of the profits made on public contracts.

However, for the time being, the "family" of "Cosa Nostra" appears to focus its efforts mainly on overcoming the difficulties surfaced last year, when an internal conflict seriously affected its internal balance.

During the period of interest, the attention of organised crime increasingly focused on controlling public contracts.

In this regard, it should be noted that the province of Caltanissetta receives significant economic resources stemming from financial facilitations, at a national and EU level, acknowledeged in the framework of the action provided for by the "Territorial Pact" in Caltanissetta and the "Area Contract" in Gela, aiming at facilitating the settlement of new businesses and initiating a new economic and employment development.

Therefore, the mafia’s interest seems to be aimed at controlling and managing companies operating in the construction and earthwork sectors. Profits stemming from these activities would guarantee economic support to the organisations, as well as provide economic assistance to incarcerated members and their respective families.

This control developed in the following ways:

• by threatening businessmen and company and shop owners in order to commit extortions, thus making them pay undue amounts of money;
• by managing, in an apparently legimate way, concrete production plants. As established during a recent operation in the Valle del Dittaino area, these businesses succeed in monopolizing the concrete market and, as a result, in influencing subcontracts through supplies, in order to favour other businesses linked to "Cosa Nostra", and mainly those controlled by major figures in the organisation.

As already mentioned, the city of Enna and its province are part of the criminal context of Caltanissetta. The key figure is Giuseppe MADONIA, although there are, within the "families", some fringes that were linked to opponents of the "bombings faction", and that still represent a destabilizing factor because of the competition in order to obtain public contracts.

In the province of Ragusa, and in particular in the area of Vittoria, the territory is controlled by the DOMINANTE family. This organisation appears to be aiming at maintaining its autonomy towards "Cosa Nostra", while the rebel faction, led by the PISCOPO brothers – that was supported last year by the "Cosa Nostra" family of Gela – obviously aims at getting close to the Sicilian "Cosa Nostra".

In recent months, the situation was rather quiet, and probably mafia groups are engaged in recruiting new members and reorganizing the structure after the impact of the law enforcement action. However, it would be useful to briefly examine two facts occurred in March.

On March 22, 2000, in the Macconi area of the city of Acate (Ragusa), the body of AIELLO Filippo was found. This individual came from Bagheria (PA) and lived in the above-mentioned area, where he owned citrus plantations.

Although no investigative trail should be excluded, it should be mentioned that the above-mentioned individual was AIELLO Michelangelo’s brother, who had been mayor in Bagheria and died in 1988.

AIELLO Michelangelo was allegedly linked to mafia organised crime figures, including the well-known GRECO Michele, and had been arrested on charges of mafia-type criminal conspiracy in order to traffick in narcotics. Therefore, it is not possible to exclude in advance that this crime was linked to mafia interests, and this would indicate a presence of "Cosa Nostra" in this area.

On March 23, 2000, in Scoglitti (Ragusa), DOMINANTE Gaetano’s de facto wife was found dead in her residence, where she had been shot by a semiautomatic gun. DOMINANTE Gaetano is the son of the head of the DOMINANTE mafia family, that currently detains the criminal leadership in Vittoria (Ragusa), in a pax mafiosa regime with the families in Gela having family links to the PISCOPO brothers; he is himself a key figure in this group.

In this case also, no investigative trail can be discarded in advance, not even the allegation of a possible "outrage" against the DOMINANTE mafia family; in this case, this fact could indicate a new start of the fight between these two factions.

Both circumstances, therefore, must be adequately examined in order to assess the events that will occur in the future.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the coasts in the province of Ragusa were used in order to smuggle foreign cigarettes in Italy. This question will be accurately examined in the paragraph concerning the province of Siracusa, that, along with the province of Ragusa, was affected by smuggling activities conducted by an Apulian organisation.

Since the province of Catania is characterized by a layered organised crime and a strong conflict between the various groups caused, in previous years, bloody fights between the various mafia organisations in this province.

Currently, in this area also, as in the rest of Sicily, there are no significant criminal facts to mention, although the mafia presence is massive and complex, as shown by the analysis of events occurred in recent months.

An operation conducted in the area of Caltagirone, concerning a large number of members of the local "Cosa Nostra" family, including the patriarch LA ROCCA Francesco, revealed and confirmed that the structures are still headed by historical figures, who still maintain their power and charisma. Moreover, the above-mentioned investigation revealed that the leaders are particularly interested in controlling public contracts, an activity that they personally conduct.

An investigation concern ing the leadership and "military" level of the "family" in Catania revealed its organisation and criminal modus operandi as well as the maintaining of links with mafia groups in the provinces of Caltanissetta and Palermo, thus confirming further that "Cosa Nostra" operates in an interprovincial perspective, through the cooperation of its "families" scattered all over the island.

In Catania, the drug market is still thriving and involves a great number of young people, recruited as drug dealers in the poorer areas of the city.

The most used drugs are "Albanian" marijuana, often transported in Italy on the Apulian coasts, and cocaine, directly imported by mafia families that established agreements with South American criminal organisations, and transported in various manners.

The abuse of "ecstasy" is increasing, even if the heroin market never disappeared.

As regards extortions, it should be mentioned that there was a decrease of this type of offence reported by economic operators; this fact is alarming since it could reveal that criminals, not necessarily linked to mafia organisations, are successful in their intimidation action.

For a long time, the mafia group headed by Sebastiano NARDO, currently incarcerated, which is a branch in Siracusa of the Catania Cosa Nostra "family", has been controlling the northern area of the province of Siracusa, centered in Lentini; in Siracusa and in the southern area of the city, the following groups are still present: APARO, TRIGILA and "SANTA PANAGIA". The latter is a branch of the APARO group in the upper area of the city.

The above-mentioned groups operate in agreement with the NARDO organisation. Indeed, at the beginning of the ‘90s, they created a sort of criminal "confederation".

In the city of Siracusa, moreover, a group headed by BOTTARO Salvatore still operates; BOTTARO Salvatore is the head of the BOTTARO mafia group, which is a historical enemy of the above-mentioned "confederation". The subdivision of the territory, however, is not as strictly applied as in previous years; investigations conducted by law enforcement agencies revealed the presence of members of both criminal groups in areas traditionally controlled by other groups.

Moreover, the "pax mafiosa" currently existing between the various opponent groups is probably caused by cost-effectiveness reasons, by taking into account the current weakness of the groups and, probably, also by the absence of charismatic leaders who are not yet known to investigators.

A significant fact could be the above-mentioned presence in the areas of Lentini (Siracusa) and Carlentini (Siracusa) of several key figures of the mafia group operating in Tortorici (Messina).

Indeed, as we already know, the Tortorici organisation, although it is not formally a part of Cosa Nostra, has close links to the Palermo "families" and, indeed, represents a branch of the latter in the province of Messina.

The fact that fugitives that are members of the above-mentioned group of Messina find shelter in the province of Siracusa, in the area controlled by the mafia group headed by NARDO Sebastiano, who is a key figure of the SANTAPAOLA clan, appears to indicate the existence of criminal links at an interprovincial level and a further confirmation that the framework of Cosa Nostra has a regional scope.

In this area, in April, Salvatore BONTEMPO SCAVO was arrested; he is a brother of Cesare, a fugitive from justice and head of the Tortorici organisation. Cesare succeeded in escaping; he had been located in a farm in the Lentini area (Siracusa).

As already mentioned, in the paragraph concerning the province of Ragusa, it is worth mentioning the cigarette smuggling phenomenon on the Sicilian coasts, and, in particular, the coasts of Siracusa and Ragusa.

Recently, indeed, as a result of the enhanced control measures in the area of the southern Adriatic Sea, historically used by smugglers in order to illegally import to Italy cigarettes, arms, narcotics and illegal immigrants, the smuggling phenomenon strongly increased in the Strait of Sicily, in particular on the southeastern coasts.

In this regard, significant results should be mentioned in the investigations that, in April, led to the identification of a large group of Apulian smugglers, linked to the CALO’ family; the head of this family has been a fugitive from justice for several years; moreover, investigations identified several local contacts, who are members of the NARDO family and provided support in logistics and took care of the transport of cigarettes by truck.

This province is characterized by the presence of a complex crime, involving independent organisations as well as organisations linked to Cosa Nostra.

The coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea is strongly colonized by Palermo Cosa Nostra that, through local mafia groups, coordinated by major criminal figures and in agreement with the Catania "family", succeeded in enhancing their influence in this area. In the Ionian Sea area, there are Catanian previous offenders, mainly as a result of trespassing by mafia members who are fugitives from justice or are looking for safer areas.

As regards Messina, recent investigations revealed the presence of Michelangelo ALFANO from Bagheria, who was entrusted a long time ago, though this was established only recently, with the task of being Cosa Nostra representative and of maintaining contacts with key figures of the local criminal organisations as well as of managing personally the economic interests of the organisation.

Recent and sensitive investigations revealed that there is a community of interests and a collusion between public officials and local criminal organisations. This situation is still not clearly defined and is the focus of the attention of investigators as well as of the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Committee.

As it was previously said, the above mentioned investigative results also confirmed that "cosa nostra" still exerts a strong control over the territory.

This aspect can be observed in any police operation accomplished against its members and is further confirmed by difficulties met by police agencies in conducting investigations aimed at apprehending key fugitives. One of the main difficulties is the possibility to successfully penetrate social environments that are still heavily controlled by mafia power both for genuine fear and interest. This clearly emerges from the words of a mafioso from Agrigento who, in referring to an associate of his, said "...a fugitive can avoid to be apprehended until townspeople let him escape from apprehension...".

In spite of said difficulties, significant human, technical and professional resources are devoted to conduct investigations on fugitives. Therefore, even if such investigations do not result in their arrest, they lead to identify and apprehend several members of the organisation concerned, thus confirming that key fugitives always can rely on a protection network consisting of carefully selected associates, relatives and accomplices.

This often happened in the past and most recently in June of this year, when the efforts to apprehend Matteo MESSINA DENARO led to identify several fugitive’s accomplices.

As to the above mentioned link detected between a "cosa nostra" group from Siracusa and an organisation from Apulia involved in cigarette smuggling, attention should be focused on two significant aspects emerged from the case:

a) smuggled cigarettes originated from Greece, and

b) cigarettes were manufactured in Great Britain and since their marketing in Italy was quite difficult, they allegedly were in transit bound to a foreign country.

The fact that cigarettes originated from Greece inevitably reminds us that some of the leading members of "cosa nostra" from Catania, before becoming drug traffickers, were engaged in smuggling between Greece and Italy. Therefore, the Catania groups may have exploited their entrées into the Greek smuggling circles in order to be a party to an agreement involving various organisations.

However, the fact that a sort of agreement was made is unquestioned; actually, no criminal organisation from Apulia that needed to transport its own goods from Greece to Northern Europe countries could rely on the support from Sicilian "cosa nostra" (unloading operations by using local boats, vehicles provided to let shipments reach their destination) without being previously authorized to do so by the Sicilian capi.

Hence, we can assume that "cosa nostra" aims at restoring its previous hegemonic position in the international criminal circuits, where Balkan organisations exert an ever-increasing influence. It is not by chance that Albanian criminal groups are gradually but constantly settling also in Sicily.

For the first time, in fact, significant police operations have been accomplished in Sicily against Albanian crime members.

The review of the above mentioned investigative results reveals that from mid ’90, approximately, Albanian criminals experienced a sort of evolution, in that at the beginning they did not act in an organised form but later they established criminal organisations rooted in Albania. The establishment of these organisations is still in its initial stage and their position in the Sicilian criminal scenario crowded by criminal conspiracies and mafia-type organisations apparently leaves room for their further evolution, in that we cannot exclude that they may settle in a stable way in the Sicilian criminal world, thus adding another variable to a complex system of local mafia balances.

As to relations with the Sicilian organised crime, the Albanian groups so far identified still have a marginal position, even if they appear to be strongly committed to take up room for their own operations.

At present, they are trying to get into by following two basic patterns of behaviour, i.e. either avoiding contacts with local crime or taking on a role tolerated by mafia.

As to the former pattern, i.e., Albanians prefer to settle in areas which are not controlled by other criminal groups, a case in point is the Ragusa area.

This town was selected by a group of Albanian criminals, whose leader was from Tirana, because in Ragusa there were no local criminal groups; the only criminal group operating in this area is the Vittoria "stidda" that, in spite of Albanians’ fear of a possible armed retaliation, did not react.

The Albanian group is involved in the same illicit activities as all similar organisations: prostitution involving women smuggled to Italy, and drug importation, i.e. cannabis and ecstasy which are sold in Ragusa by using a network of very young dealers hired on the spot.

If the above mentioned Albanian criminal organisation apparently has not established contacts with Sicilian mafia groups, a different situation surfaced from an investigation conducted in Palermo.

In Palermo, some Albanians who had been living in this area for several years, by committing offences not linked with organised crime, took the opportunity to upgrade their activities by establishing connections with a group from Palermo involved in drug trafficking that needed a supply channel.

Availing themselves of other Albanians linked with them by family ties, they established a "network" with cells in Albania, Calabria and, of course, in Sicily, do that their "customers" also include ‘ndrangheta representatives from the Cosenza province and criminals from Campania.

This group, that in turn was linked to a Valona mafia organisation that supplied drugs (heroin and marijuana), developed up to buy heroin directly from Turkish groups and a motorship for smuggling purposes (drugs, migrants and, if necessary, arms bound to Italy) by using a Sea Transport Albanian company as front company. In order to increase its huge profits obtained from these criminal activities, the group is also involved in the prostitution business in Northern Italy.

The most interesting aspect that emerged from investigations is the fact that we can assume that "cosa nostra" was aware both of drug distribution performed by Palermo criminals and of drug importation performed by Albanians and that "cosa nostra" not only authorized such trafficking activities, thus exerting the most typical form of control over the territory, but also intervened to regulate relations between the two groups.

In fact, some economic disputes raised between the two criminal groups allegedly were settled by unidentified third subjects.

Although the subjects are still unidentified, it should be considered that the group of Palermo dealers operated in the Guadagna district, that is the heart of the "cosa nostra" Santa Maria di Gesù family (also known as the Guadagna family), whose main representative is Pietro AGLIERI, and the subjects who were called to play the role of "judges" could be identified precisely because during a conversation with an accomplice of his, one of the subjects being investigated said "...because there it is the Guadagna...".

In other words, it was explicitly acknowledged that in the Guadagna district, the power was exerted by persons who controlled all its illicit activities, and this could be done only by the above mentioned "family".

Another interesting aspect was the fact that the judgment made by these "men of honor" was not in favour of the Albanians and that the latter paid the sum due with no objection, thus showing that they were perfectly aware that there was an unquestioned "authority".

Therefore, it is unmistakable that the settlement and development of the Albanian criminal group could only take place with the consent and under the control of "cosa nostra".

A similar case occurred in the Caltanissetta province, where a Valona organisation established operational connections with Italian nationals defined by the competent Judicial Authority "...close to mafia criminal organisations operating in the Gela area..." , i.e. the local "cosa nostra" "family" and "stidda".

In this regard, it is to be stressed that, following an agreement, at present the Gela "stidda" and "cosa nostra" cooperate; hence, it is quite natural that Albanians made illicit deals with subjects connected to both organisations.

Like in Palermo, in this case also there was a sort of cooperation, in that Albanians acted as drug importers while Italians acted as buyers; again, contacts were maintained by an Albanian national living in this area while the organisation head was in Albania.

Needless to say that in the Gela area, where "cosa nostra" is very strong, the settlement of an Albanian group implies a previous consent by the heads of "cosa nostra".

With regard to this criminal case, a noteworthy aspect is the following: the Albanian group, which is still is its initial stage of organisational and economic development, besides being active in drug trafficking in Sicily, also made a so-called instant kidnapping, moving between Tuscany and Umbria, with the complicity of Italian nationals living in these two regions. During investigations on the kidnapping preparation, it surfaced that the Albanian nationals also contacted a person living in Perugia, i.e. the brother of a well-known head of a "stidda", who is currently incarcerated.

This behaviour shows that the Albanian organisations tend to organise themselves in complex structures operating nationwide.

This trend to expand themselves and progressively establish connections with local mafia groups leads us to envisage that in the next future the Albanian criminal groups may become the dynamic element of Italian organised crime and be no longer obliged to run risks to operate outside their territory of origin.

As to the relations between the Sicilian "cosa nostra" and the Albanian organised crime, it should be borne in mind that a significant hint dates back to 1998, when it was established that a member of the Palermo Porta Nuova family, Gioacchino CILLARI, who in that period was a fugitive and had already been sentenced for mafia conspiracy and drug trafficking, used Albanian traffickers as his drug suppliers.

In short, we can conclude that "cosa nostra" is interested in establishing relations with the Albanian organised crime and we cannot exclude that its behaviour of tolerance derives from an agreement made with Albanian mafia leaders, in a framework of cooperation that cannot be yet exactly defined but is expected to be based on a principle of reciprocity should the Sicilian mafiosi decide to operate in Albania.

Parallel to the maintenance of a strong control over the territory and the establishment of relations with Albanians organisations, "cosa nostra" is increasingly involved in the sector of public contracts.

In fact, many investigations revealed that mafia "families" have interests in the construction sector. These families, through intimidation and bribery, can alter tenders for their own benefit.

It is evident that it is a sort of passive entrepreneurial activities, exclusively aiming at intercepting economic resources, by diverting them from public investments, with no benefit for the public.

Among the regions mostly exposed to the threat of organised crime, Campania is the most affected by murders that often involve innocent victims.

A review of murders committed revealed strategies, conflicts and alliances among the clans operating in Campania, which are still characterised by the absence of a single top-level management, thus resulting in a very fluid balance, especially in the provinces of Naples and Caserta.

In this context, it was confirmed that several murders were committed because of the need for criminal groups to obtain the control over the most profitable illicit activities, i.e. the management of contracts and cigarette smuggling. This inevitably leads the most criminally evolved clans to operate in geographical areas also outside Italy, where this very profitable traffic originates and develops.

Several statements made by cooperating witnesses and a screening of the most important operations recently accomplished have revealed that Campania-based criminal groups tend to export their modi operandi to other areas, also transnational areas, where it is easier for them to find room for reinvesting illicit proceeds and they are less likely to clash with local criminal organisations.

In this regard:

• the presence at different levels of criminal groups from Campania was reported in Albania, Germany, South America, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Eastern European countries;
• it was ascertained that, at present, clans from Campania exert their influence in regions such as Lombardia, Toscana, Liguria, Lazio, Piemonte, Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. Due to their production activities and a great circulation of wealth, these regions can be used for money laundering purposes through the take-over or the establishment of companies or the opening of businesses.

1. The situation in the provinces

Today, the criminal association called the "Secondigliano alliance" shows at a criminal local level an agreement that in the past allowed the allied groups to completely defeat the "Nuova Camorra Organizzata", headed by Raffaele CUTOLO. The above mentioned "cartel", whose historical core still consists of the LICCIARDI, CONTINI and MALLARDO clans, later integrated on equal terms by the groups headed by Gaetano BOCCHETTI and Giuseppe LO RUSSO (aka "o Capitone") respectively, is based on the fact that it is perceived from outside as a single criminal organisation and establishes agreements with minor criminal groups, in order to obtain the control over other city districts and part of the province. The groups close to the allied clans include: the GIULIANO family from Forcella district, the MARIANO clan from the Spanish districts, the CAIAZZO family from Vomero district, the CALONE family from Posillipo district, the TOLOMELLI-VASTARELLA family from the Sanità district, the MARFELLA-CONTINO family and the VARRIALE family from Pianura district, the APREA family, the CUCCARO family and the ALBERTO family from Barra district, the D’AUSILIO family from Bagnoli district, the PUCCINELLI family from the TRAIANO district and the DE LUCA BOSSA from the De Gasperi district.

The Secondigliano alliance opposes to the MAZZARELLA group from San Giovanni a Teduccio, the MISSO-PIROZZI group from the Sanità district, the DI BIASI group from the Spanish districts, the SORPRENDENTE-SORRENTINO group from Bagnoli, the SARNO group from Ponticelli and the LAGO family from Pianura. In the meantime, investigations revealed that as of May 1999, within the alliance, there was a disagreement about operational strategies to adopt and the sharing of illicit proceeds.

In detail:

- In May 1999, an attempt of reconciliation between the alliance and the MISSO clan failed, since Giuseppe MISSO wanted that the TOLOMELLI-VASTARELLA families be chased away from the Sanità district in order to obtain its total control, but his proposal was refused; in the light of the above, the heads of the alliance, LICCIARDI Maria and MALLARDO Francesco, ordered the fire-groups of the BOCCHETTI and CONTINI clans to attack the MISSO group; the LO RUSSO group allegedly did not join this initiative, thus avoiding a conflict with the MISSO group;

- the LO RUSSO family, disagreeing with some choices made by the other top-level groups of the criminal cartel, allegedly approached the rival MAZZARELLA group in order to manage the profitable activity of cigarette smuggling;

- the claim for a major autonomy from the top-level management was made by a part of the group headed by Ettore SABATINO; the latter, in the past, was considered by investigators as one of Giuseppe LO RUSSO’s most reliable right-hands, on behalf of whom he had committed many murders.

Finally, police operations on the territory allowed the main heads of the Secondigliano alliance be apprehended; among apprehensions recently made, mention should be made of Patrizio BOSTI from Naples, belonging to the CONTINI clan, who was arrested on April 14, 2000, during a camorra summit meeting that took place in a detached villa located in the area between Qualiano and Giugliano; on that occasion, the cousins MALLARDO Francesco and Feliciano were arrested as well.

The main figure of the Secondigliano alliance who has not yet been arrested is Maria LICCIARDI, sister of the well-known Pietro, who on various occasions not only managed the illicit activities of her clan, but also acted in the interest and on behalf of the alliance criminal clans.

The chain of murders committed in June 2000 (more than 55 in the first half of 2000 versus 37 murders committed in the first half of 1999) can be linked to retaliations made by the LICCIARDI clan following the splitting of the LO RUSSO clan and its simultaneous approach to the MAZZARELLA group, due to the sharing of smuggling illicit proceeds; because of the above mentioned reasons, we cannot exclude that the MISSO clan, allied with the MAZZARELLA group, intervened in the dispute in favour of the LO RUSSO group.

As to this province, organised crime is characterized by traits of renewed conflicts existing in the same territory following Francesco SCHIAVONE’s arrest made on July 12, 1998 by the Naples-based D.I.A. field office. The arrest of the charismatic head of the CASALESI clan, as investigators had envisaged, has broken the balance among the several groups linked with the SCHIAVONE clan, but has not implied a minor criminal influence on the territory of the mentioned clan. However, the latter appears to be less compact due to the formation of new groups which are often fighting each other, following the release from prison of prominent figures in 1999 and during the first half of 2000.

In short, the illicit facts which mostly affected the public security situation in the province under examination are:

• An increase in the number of the CASALESI group members murdered, following the release from prison of Domenico BIDOGNETTI (born in Naples on October 1, 1966) made on October 3, 1998, a nephew of the clan head Francesco BIDOGNETTI, who was a notorious rival of the cartel headed by Francesco SCHIAVONE;
• several murders of Albanian nationals.

As to the other provinces of Campania, there are no significant changes compared to the preceeding six months, even if the Avellino province is strongly influenced by its strategic position between Campania and Apulia. In fact, in this area there are several alliances between the local criminal groups and the camorra groups involved in sharing criminal/entrepreneurial/economic programmes in the Naples and Caserta areas, and the criminal organisations from Apulia involved above all in drug trafficking and cigarette smuggling.

A review of murders committed in the six months being examined allowed this phenomenon be analysed, with special regard to the modus operandi and balance of the criminal groups operating in the territory, and information technology-aided maps be created at a provincial level indicating the dislocation of clans in Campania.

The ‘ndrangheta continues to be very vital and to pursue its own strategic objectives trying to avoid any risk of detection.

In this phase, its ever-frequent typical criminal activities are still generally committed without making use of violence.

The ‘ndrangheta continues to make efforts to control several entrepreneurial activities, in particular those involving public contracts, while continuing to control activities linked with agriculture. Furthermore, the ‘ndrangheta is increasingly involved in directly controlling arm trafficking and a large part of the international drug trafficking. In this regard, drug trafficking increasingly appears to be the most significant economic illicit source for its various cells.

Furthermore, the ‘ndrangheta continues to maintain close relations with foreign organisations located both in Italy and abroad. Also links among the various mafia clans both in Calabria and abroad appear to be strong. As a result of migration flows occurred in the past, the ‘ndrangheta can rely on several permanent settlements in various continents abroad.

There are still strong disagreements among the various mafia families settled in this province. Hence, we cannot exclude the possibility of new murders in the Locri area in order to maintain the balance resulting from the armed truce between the CORDI’ family and the CATALDO family.

Mafia organisations are still interested in activities involving the Gioia Tauro port as well as in funds destined to foster production investments in this area. They are also very interested in government funds allocated to build and renovate city facilities and the surrounding area.

The Reggio Calabria area is pervaded by conflicts intrinsic to the mafia groups belonging to the various factions resulting from the last mafia war. These conflicts are rooted in the attempt by wings of the DE STEFANO family to enlarge its influence in areas "assigned" to the SERRAINO cartel.

Investigations and police activities conducted on the criminal organisations operating in this province revealed no significant changes compared to the "status quo" of the mafia families operating in that area, where the MANCUSO family plays a leading role.

As to this province, where the ‘ndrangheta is strongly interested in works for constructing the third lane of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway, no significant change was reported.

As to this province, no significant change was reported. However, the "status quo" resulting from the last conflict between the local groups may be affected by the acquittal and release from prison of several members occurred in 1999 - first half of 2000.

Generally speaking, the sharing agreements made in the past by the various mafia families appear to be still in force and, in this sense, the various mafia cells, though also being interested in the works of the above mentioned motorway, continue to carry on extortions within the province.

This province is affected by conflicts indicating a serious disagreement among the various wings of the families historically settled in the area. The Mesoraca town and the surrounding towns appear to be the most affected by this tension that often resulted either in missing persons (the so called white lupare) or cruel murders committed in the town streets.

A reference framework involving the Reggio Calabria province has been accomplished.

The analysis and "intelligence" developed on the mafia groups operating in that area are a sort of refinement and evolution of similar activities carried out with regard to Crotone and Vibo Valentia areas.

Investigations revealed that the Reggio ‘ndrangheta has reached a degree of cohesion never observed in the past, thus becoming stronger and even more flexible.

In this way, for each of the 97 towns that make up the Reggio Calabria province, it was possible to outline an historical documentary picture of mafia groups that confirmed that the ‘ndrangheta reorganised itself in "mandamenti" and managed to penetrate public works involving the Reggio Calabria "Tito Minniti" airport.

Furthermore, it was possible to underline relations and geographical settlements of the Reggio ‘ndrangheta worldwide. As a confirmation of the significant and flexible links of the organisation in question, it emerged that the Calabrian mafia allegedly does not hinder the invasion by foreign criminals but rather decided to use it as instrumental to the attainment of its own goals. Albanians, for instance, appear to be used as manpower to transfer drugs manufactured in Turkey that, passing through Eastern European countries, reach Italy, where they often are destined to subjects from Reggio. This gives reason to believe that there are high level business contacts between ‘ndrangheta bosses and Turkish drug-producer heads, often of Kurdish origin. Furthermore, we cannot exclude that the constant flow of Turks of Kurdish origin landing on the coasts of the Reggio Calabria province results from such agreements.

Drug trafficking is undoubtedly the priority of Calabrian mafia and its other typical illicit activities such as arm trafficking, extortions and loansharking appear to play a secondary role. A direct consequence of the significant role played by the ‘ndrangheta in the drug world is the accumulation of huge amounts of cash, apparently exceeding the self-financing ordinary needs of its traditional illicit activities.

The amount of proceeds derived from traditional criminal activities, among which drug trafficking ranks first, which exceeds the groups’ self-financing needs, led to develop, next to traditional business, a further series of legitimate entrepreneurial activities, so as to let the criminal network be perfectly integrated within the entrepreneurial economic system.

The availability of huge amounts of cash derived from criminal activities favours the entry and strengthening of the enterprises controlled by ‘ndrangheta in the market. This heavily alters the free competition regime in the Calabrian economy characterized by the lack of large companies. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the ‘ndrangheta uses on a regular basis intimidation of those entrepreneurs who avoid the control of the mafia families having jurisdiction on the area concerned.

The possibility to collect cash outside financial markets free of charge heavily alters the market since it allows enterprises linked with crime or controlled by it, to reduce costs and increase profits.

In the field of money laundering, the ‘ndrangheta is exploiting opportunities provided by INTERNET that allows its members to carry out financial transactions and transnational transfers of capital on-line and with the guarantee of anonymity.

The allegedly increasing use of Internet by the ‘ndrangheta allows its members to carry out financial operations outside traditional bank channels, eluding regulations established also at an international level, on customers identification and glastnost of financial activities (documentation, reporting, record keeping, etc.).

From the analytical assessment regarding organised crime groups in Apulia region, a steady increase of agreements was noticed, between various mafia-families based on the territory and foreign criminal groups, in particular Albanians. The latter group is becoming increasingly powerful, both for a violent attitude of its members and for their role of link , intermediation and monitoring of the illicit activities carried out by Apulian and Eastern European organised crime.

Over the Apulian territory, the ‘ndrangheta families subdivided their turf in order to manage the illicit activities, a sort of subdivision of specific crime fields. In fact, the Albanian families are involved in illicit immigration and exploitation of prostitution., while the Apulian organisations control the cigarette smuggling and other types of activities, typical of the local crime. As to narcotic trafficking, each ethnic group seem to be entrusted with different tasks : the Albanians bring the drugs over the Apulian coasts and the groups based on the territory distribute them .

The areas where the mafia presence is more concentrated are the Brindisi area (Mesagne, S. Pietro Vernotico, Tuturano, Cellino San Marco), the Northern part of Lecce (Surbo, Trepuzzi, Squinziano), at Bari and Cerignola. ( Foggia).

The strong pressure from law enforcement and the international agreements against organised crime caused many problems to the criminal organisations and forced them to look for new routes (in particular regarding the smuggling activities and the illegal immigration )and for new logistic bases. In fact you may find cigarette deposits, in Albanian coasts, on the Montenegro, Greece coasts and on the Ciprus Island. Some areas of the Turkey are used as meeting point for illegal immigrants.

In order to land on the Italian coasts, the Albanians are constantly looking for new routes, even if few alternatives exist. The landing operations on the Apulian coasts are easy enough, thanks to the agreements with local mafia groups that are in charge of the logistics after the disembarkment of the "human goods" on the national territory.

On the other hand, the cigarette smuggling requires a more tight network, with squads of men to unload the boxes, to transport them on trucks and to store the goods in hidden warehouses. These forms of cigarette smuggling, together with a reliable network of criminal links in the frame of the international market, are not easily exportable to other Italian regions. These situations were confirmed by important police operations, thus making it possible to streamline the business carried out by these joint criminal enterprises.

1 . The situation in the provinces.

1.a. The province of Foggia

The fight between the local groups is still ongoing, due to their geographical position and to their criminal traditions, and also to the fight among the Neapolitan camorra families. There were a number of violent events in this province. The extortions and narcotics trafficking are increasing. As to the illegal immigration, several landing were recorded, including a dinghy, owned by to two Neapolitans, carrying 43 Chinese nationals; this case shows the involvement of Campania based mafia families in some Apulia areas.

The situation of young people appears to be very sensitive, as to many forms of violent behaviour, much over the juvenile rebellion, much closer to real criminal gangs. As an example, let us mention the case of two baby gangs, at S. Severo and Trinitanapoli, involved in extortions and disrupted by law enforcement.

The fight for the control and the management of smuggling activities represents as well the fight for the leading role within the town, and for new organisational structures of criminal groups. As a consequence of this fight, several murders and shootings were committed. Such fight is still ongoing, due both to the struggle for the leading role at the top of the historical families (and this was also caused by the release of many convicted subjects for expiration of the incarceration terms), and to the attempt to control the smuggling assets, that suffered a sharp decrease because of the law enforcement action.

In this province, where the situation is apparently quiet, it is believed that in some groups gathered around local criminal key figures, such as DELL’AQUILA Paolo and BUONSIGNORE Calogero, a new organisation is underway, aimed at defining roles and hierarchies. Mainly on the Ionian coast, some bombings were committed against businesses, as an example of extortions. In these areas, because of an increase in smuggling activities, a great competition surfaced between two local criminal groups, headed by MELE Damiano and PAPPADA’ Adriano, aimed at managing the trafficking and recently the struggle which ended in two attempted murders.

It can be stated that this is the most dangerous situation under the public security point of view. The smuggling of cigarettes is the main criminal activity, and a taught fight between police forces and smugglers is ongoing. From the Albanian coast, just in front of Brindisi, local criminal groups transport narcotics and, in particular, marijuana. The management of illicit activities is controlled by the "Meganesi" family, a group belonging to the Sacra Corona Libera, controlling the southwestern area of the province. Currently, these groups have to face several problems, thanks to t he police activities on the territory. In this framework, a negative sign is the presence of several major fugitives, attempting to form a new group in order to fight the families based on the territory, and to gain the leadership over the criminal organisations. In order to support its activities, this new group commits robberies, because it cannot gain assets from the smuggling operations.

Relevant notice was given to the arson of several vehicles. It was believed to be the answer to a police operation, aimed at dismantling a criminal organisation involved in stealing cars, blackmail and extortions. In Lecce and in the Salento area, an increase of extortions and bombing connected to it, is registred. This situation is deemed determined by a strong concentration of organised crime. Also remarkable appears to be the narcotic trafficking, conducted from joint groups of Albanian nationals and local families.

The never ending struggle between the Campi Salentina families, on one side, and the Squinzano (Lecce), Surbo (Lecce) and Trepuzzi (Lecce) families, on the other, aimed at subdividing their influence over different areas, causes instability and conflicts, in the frame of a difficult balance between the Salento criminal groups.

This was the result of a monitoring and analysis of criminal events occurred in the province. This analysis is aimed at outlining the characteristics of the local crime groups and at defining their structure. The network of the links and connections of Apulian fugitives, arrested out of their region, was outlined, in order to highlight possible connections with criminal groups based in other Italian regions.

Preventive investigations regarding other forms of organised crime

Bearing in mind that in the last few years, organised crime had an increasing expansion, and acquired importance and power even abroad, it is necessary to study the "surfacing" forms of organised crime in Italy, and its connections to recent illegal immigration flows. These new groups are dangerous because of their invasiveness and flexibility.

The analysis of information available, also from a statistical point of view, made it possible to identify criminal subjects, their possible connections with Italian organised crime, especially, mafia crime, thus matching the law enforcement tools in the fight against organised crime.

Based on this analysis, intelligence projects were carried out, regarding the foreign ethnic groups with the highest rate of crimes or representing an historical criminal presence in Italy.

Our attention was focused both on the Eastern European organised criminal groups, through Project C.O.S. (Criminalità Organizzata Sovietica), which was updated in 2000, and on Albanian organised crime ( Project SHQIPERIA) whose update is underway, after gathering documents and analyzing judicial proceedings and information.

Also other criminal groups are being monitored, such as the Moroccan nationals, representing the first foreign community, located in Italy, in order to assess their criminal potential (project EL MAGHREB).

Besides this, other ethnic groups are being studied:

• Turkish, its presence has been judicially ascertained in Italy. Although it is a very dangerous ethnic group because of its criminal potential, we should point out that recently no Turkish nationals surfaced from the anti-drug operations carried out in Italy. Hence, we may say that Turkey, in recent years, has become a huge "supermarket" of heroin, in which drug is sold to other criminal organisations, mainly Albanians and Nigerians, in charge of the distribution (transportation and delivery) to European markets, through the Balkan route;
• Chinese, this crime group is cautious and subtle, still violent within their own community, but still ready to expand to significant economic investments, of uncertain and unclear origin. It is marked with a peculiar geographical concentration, in particular in the Central-Northern regions of Italy, an extreme code of silence, which makes us understand a strong control over the members, entrepreneurial initiatives, trafficking in human beings aimed at exploiting labour and typical Chinese offences (loansharking and gambling).
• Nigerian. The Nigerian organised crime appears to be a horizontal –not pyramidal- structure, characterized by a strong magic-religious feeling, which makes it impermeable to the outer world, and which exercises a complete subjection of its members, not necessarily Nigerians nationals, but anyway coming from the same geographical area. In the frame of several criminal proceedings, the mafia-type organisation of some syndicates was established, relating to their "modus operandi", the threat they pose, and the high–level organisation, in their activities related to prostitution and illegal immigration. The significant profits surfaced from such activities, are then reinvested in numerous commercial business, also of illegal nature, such as the peddling of counterfeited products (leather and technology).

Project C.O.S., regarding preventive investigations concerning organised crime coming from former Soviet Union countries, carried out by the DIA in November, 1998 and update in June, 1999, last April was again integrated with recent information.

In particular the presence of individuals coming from Former Soviet Union countries in some Italian regions such as Apulia, Calabria, Campania and Sicily, was studied, in order to detect the possible infiltration of Eastern European subjects in the economy of the mentioned regions.

The choice of monitoring this part of the Italian territory was made in order to gather more precise information on mafia-risk regions.

This analysis was then spread to the bordering regions (Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata).

Because of a strong local crime based on the territory of Sicily, Calabria and Apulia, it surfaced that Eastern European crime groups and individuals could not settle there.

In the other three regions taken into consideration, economic interests are of little significance and do not justify a strong criminal infiltration of key criminals coming from former Soviet Union.

Considering that according to the data available, the interests of the so-called "Russian Mafia" are oriented towards the financial and economic sector; a special attention was paid to the importation and exportation of sensitive goods, the participation in companies used to conceal illicit activities.

This document includes an update on the modus operandi and organisation of the most important crime groups coming from former Soviet Union, taking into account the increasing importance of these criminals in the international scenario and their outgrowths all over the European Union.

We would like to stress the dangerousness, steady growth and settlement of Albanian crime groups in Italy.

There are many small groups involved mainly in trafficking in human beings through illegal immigration and prostitution or the exploitation of children for begging. Such criminal activities are often accomplished with cruelty and aim at submitting the young victims to slavery.

Such small organisations are not connected among them, if not occasionally to conclude single illicit businesses; sometimes they fight among them to achieve a supremacy over the territory, thus creating many problems for public security.

Those Albanian crime groups showing a better organisation appear more dangerous, since they are characterized by a transnational nature of their illicit businesses; these are often conducted directly from Albania, where the leaders of the whole organisation reside.

In Italy and in Europe, sometimes also overseas, only accomplices settle and very seldom the leaders do participate personally in the important agreements with the local underworld.

The business connection between the major Albanian crime groups with the local mafia syndicates is obvious, notwithstanding their regional origin, especially as far as drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling and arms trafficking are concerned.

The elements prove a worrying development of the Albanian criminality towards more traditional offences, such as kidnapping. Indeed, smaller family-based groups operate on the territory, even occasionally, along with major crime groups, in the field of stolen motor-vehicles and in offences against the property, which are increasing.

As regards the Moroccan ethnic community that settled in Italy, it should be mentioned that:

• offenders, mainly males, are present mainly in Central and Northern Italian regions (in decreasing order, Lombardia, Piemonte, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Toscana), where most Moroccan immigrants live;
• most reports of minor criminal offences, in particular several criminal offences against property (theft and receiving of stolen goods), that do not reveal a significant criminal capacity, nor a particularly organised structure; it is worth mentioning only some offences having a greater criminal significance, like money laundering, that are however on a scale which is too small to be considered as a threat;
• beside criminal offences against property, criminal offences concerning narcotics are the most frequent, and reveal a trend of this ethnic group to commit such types of crime. In particular, it is worth mentioning a trend to commit small-scale and medium-scale offences, like possession and, in particular, distribution of drugs; the organisation ability appears to be less significant, since offences concerning criminal conspiracies amount to 2% of the total number of offences reported in this field;
• offences against the person and counterfeiting offences surfaced within a great number of non-EU nationals communities, and in the Moroccan community also, they seem to be a result of problems stemming from a lack of social integration ;
• there is a small significance of offences connected to criminal conspiracies, like those surfacing in the typical criminal associations (criminal conspiracy, mafia-type criminal conspiracy and criminal conspiracy in order to conduct drug trafficking).

A specific interdepartmental Working Group was created in order to identify any possible infiltration and/or influence by mafia groups and their members in companies that obtained public contracts concerning the construction of the national "High Speed*" (TAV) railway network, of the achievement of the "Operational Programme concerning Water Resources in Southern Italy", and the operational programme "Security for the Development of Southern Italy"; to carry out this task, the joint task force prepared several reports concerning each company under examination.

The approach of the interdepartmental task force, that includes officers from the Central Services of the three Italian Police Forces, directed and coordinated by the DIA, was achieved also through a check of the corporate organisation of all companies that, since 1990, have been in contact with businesses involved in these contracts.

In the referenced period, as regards both the "High Speed Railway System"* and the "Programme concerning Water Resources*", the interdepartmental Working Group developed and sent to the competent Prefetture, in order to conduct further appropriate assessments, the monitoring concerning 14 companies involved in the contracts, including:

• checks on the members and shareholders of 329 companies, having business relations with companies involved in the above-mentioned contracts;
• checks concerning 1.224 individuals.

At an international level, a significant contribution of experiences and ideas was given by the participation of D.I.A. officers in the following working groups, meetings and international fora concerning money laundering, a subject which will be dealt with more in detail in part III:

• Technical group on money laundering set up pursuant to the Meeting of the Ministries of the Interior of Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland;
• European Union
• FATF (Financial Action Task Force)
• IN.C.E. (Central European Initiative) a regional co-operation body, made up of 16 countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldavia, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Belorussia, Ukraine, Austria and Italy), which was set up to co-operate in the field of prevention and counteraction against transnational organised crime;
• Europol (European Police Office).

1. Suspicious Transactions Reports

The activity is based on the assessment of the "suspicious transaction" report coming from the Ufficio Italiano Cambi, in conformity with art. 3 of Act n. 197/91 and following amendments, to be able to identify the activities connected with those financial transactions carried out by organised crime.

1,960 reports were examined, out of which 1,337 refer to the time-period in question, mainly affecting the following Italian regions: Lombardia, Toscana, Piemonte, Veneto, Campania, Emilia and Puglia.

The names of the individuals (n. 3,140) and of the companies (2,443) were screened, through the available computer archives used to review previous criminal records.

At the same time, all reports were examined in connection with the below mentioned financial operations.

Out of the reports taken into consideration, 159 were submitted to further investigation.

On the basis of the elements obtained, n. 88 reports were sent to the Service of Suspicious Financial Operations from the Antimafia National Directorate.

D. ENFORCEMENT OF THE SPECIAL IMPRISONMENT REGIME (in conformity with art. 41 bis of the Penitentiary Regulation).

The usual information flow supplied by D.I.A. to the Penitentiary Administration of the Ministry of Justice, in order to enforce the special imprisonment regime ex art. 41 bis of Law n. 354/1975, allowed the postponement of 568 enforcement provisions concerning the special imprisonment regime.

The global information flow carried out during the first semester of the present year dealt with the processing of n. 706 information cards, out of which 138 new proposals. The subjects concerned belong to cosa nostra (n. 329), to the ‘ndrangheta (n. 194), to the camorra (n. 135), to the Apulian organised crime (n. 34) and other types of mafia (n. 14).

It regards the enforcement of the preventive provisions, ruled by the executive order dated November 30, 1993, assigned to the Director of D.I.A.

In the semester under exam, the following provisions were sent to the law courts:

• N. 18 personal and property-related preventive provisions
• N. 9 personal and property-related preventive provisions

• N. 6 to the law court in S. Maria Capua Vetere (5 personal and property, 1 personal)
• N. 1 to the law court in Milan (personal)
• N. 9 to the law court in Turin (5 personal and property, 4 personal)
• N. 1 to the law court in Foggia (personal)
• N. 1 to the law court in Palermo (personal and property)
• N. 2 to the law court in Vibo Valentia (1 personal and property, 1 personal)
• N. 2 to the law court in Genova (1 personal and property and 1 personal)
• N. 2 to the law court in Aosta (personal and property)
• N. 1 to the law court in Biella (personal and property)
• N. 1 to the law court in Lecce (personal and property)

1. THE COOPERATION WITH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BODIES

Multilateral co-operation was an adequate answer to the new challenges put into place by organised crime; the latter, through some criminal agreements at transnational level, expanded its potential and its need for a joint answer, agreed upon at transnational level.

Together with ENU/EUROPOL, pursuant to the enactment (July 1, 1999) of Europol Convention, ratified with act n. 93 dated March 23, 1998, the exchange of information carried out through the Italian National Unit, was extended to the criminal analysis and to the processing of specific info-operational projects of preventive nature, with a special mention to the accomplishment of analytical work files (AWF – Analytical Work Files).

On this purpose, D.I.A. representatives participated in expert meetings, with a view of implementing an operational method of criminal analysis, able to address the law enforcement activity vìs a vìs the transnational expansion of the Italian crime groups, operating in the European Union Member Countries.

With regard to the requests coming from the Member Countries, D.I.A. received a total number of 120 requests, out of which 22 were successful. The others proved, however, useful to better know some scenarios, which deserve more attention.

With specific reference to the EUROPEAN UNION and to a new money laundering directive, aimed at implementing the contents of the previous directive n. 308/91/EEC, the D.I.A. officers have:

• Participated in the co-ordination proceedings carried out at national level, to define the enforcement field of the new community provision, in favour of the working group set up in Bruxelles on the specific subject matter;
• Contributed in implementing new co-operation policies, through the wording of wide scope proposals, aimed at a joint counteraction activity against the smuggling carried out by the mafia-type crime groups.

Among the most significant activities, we should mention the attendance to the below mentioned international fora:

1. G8 – meetings of the Lyon Group, "Law Enforcement Projects", in:

• Tokyo, February 7 – 9. Among the issues under review, a special stress was given to those hindrances which were found out during the international police co-operation, a special attention to the environment crimes, to cigarette smuggling, to confidentiality, and to the protection of data, to the projects of co-operation in the fight against Eastern European, Euroasian and Kosovo-Albanian criminality and drug trafficking;
• Kyoto (Japan) from May 22 to 24. During the meeting, several subjects were reviewed and the Subgroup future options;

1. Central European initiative (In.C.E.). Participation in the meeting of the Working Group dealing with the fight against organised crime, held in Vienna on May 26, during which a D.I.A. officer carried out a presentation in the field of money laundering. Moreover, the Directorate participated in the drafting of a document on organised crime operating in the countries joining the initiative, in the section concerning money laundering;
2. Three countries co-operation Albania, Greece, Italy, for a co-ordinated control over southern Adriatic Sea, in order to counteract the criminal phenomena present in the area. D.I.A. participated in Rome:

• on February 2, in a technical meeting with the attendance of the Police Forces belonging to the three countries joining the initiative; the meeting aimed at agreeing upon the steps required to implement what was agreed upon during the meeting of the respective Ministries of the Interior, held in Rome on January 10, 2000;
• on March 30, in a further meeting, the subject of operational co-operation was reviewed;

1. Project MILLENIUM, on the organised crime of Eastern Europe and Russia. In such a framework, from June 19 to 20, D.I.A. took part in the 2^nd meeting in Valbandon (Croatia), during which Italy announced officially its joining in.
2. Financial Action Task Force (FATF): DIA participated in the following meetings:

• Paris, from January 31 to February 4. During the meeting, the experiences gained in the off-shore and money laundering fields in Eastern-Central Europe;
• Manama City, Bahrain, From June 5 to 7, to assess the provisions adopted in Bahrain to counteract money laundering;

1. Stability Pact for Southern-Eastern Europe: on June 16, a D.I.A. officer participated in Vienna in a meeting of the Working Group on Organised Crime, set up within the III Working Party. The main topic of the meeting was the discussion on the operational document dealing with organised crime;

7. technical group on money laundering, established after the meeting in Wiesbaden on April 13 and 14, among the Ministers of the Interior of Italy, France, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, also attended by DIA representatives, in order to draft an update of the legislation concerning suspicious transaction reports.

Direct contacts and a constant info-operational exchange stress the soundness of the good relationships with the US counterpart.

In particular:

• Joint investigations are still under way with the U.S. Customs;
• The still ongoing cooperation with the U.S. IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION SERVICE (I.N.S.) enabled the arrest of a fugitive, with the help of other police forces, who was charged with an arrest warrant for a mafia-type conspiracy and is member of a powerful mafia family;
• Within the MALOCCHIO operation, cooperation is actively going on with FBI. In February an info-operational meeting took place in Rome, in order to exchange the information which surfaced during the investigation and to coordinate subsequent investigations;
• At the DIA, a meeting was organised with liaison officers of the DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION of Rome, in order to draft an overview on the major Italian criminal organisations involved in drug trafficking and those headed by Albanian criminals operating in Italy.

The following are the most important cooperation links with the Canadian Police:

• The profitable cooperation achieved within the "ELIANTO-ALIOTIS" operation which enabled the positive conclusion of the investigation, by carrying out arrest warrants against 9 subjects involved in a vast drug trafficking and the seizure of a large quantity of hashish coming from Morocco;
• The wrap-up of the "IRIDIUM" investigation which resulted in arrest warrants against 29 subjects, members of a Calabrian clan (for details see the annex).

1. Australia

The info-operational links with the NATIONAL CRIME AUTHORITY and with the AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE were further enhanced. With the latter, an investigation against Italian nationals is still under way; the latter are members of a criminal organisation engaged in drug trafficking from Italy to Australia.

2. European Union countries

During various meetings with Austrian representatives, the joint intention to go on co-operating was underlined, that is:

• The fight against the activity of criminal organisations and the protection from mafia type infiltrations;
• Deepen the knowledge of structural and organisational aspects of law enforcement agencies.

In particular, topics were discussed about the risks of criminal infiltration into the territory of the Austrian Federation due to its peculiar geographical position, bordering with countries of Eastern Europe, which are often the place of origin or transition of criminal groups.

As to the info-operational exchange with the EDOK, we point out that in the concerned period of time, activities concerning checks on suspicious bank operations made by Italian nationals in Austria continued.

The information exchange with Belgium continued within the COBI Project (Belgium Italy organised crime) aimed at monitoring the infiltration into the social and economic life of Belgium and at focusing the attention on a restricted number of interesting subjects in that country.

Furthermore, during this semester, an information exchange together with the Belgian police was started in relation to the Argo operation, whose objective is that to find out the leaders of a criminal group.

As to France, with TRACFIN, a regular information exchange has been under way, on the Project Concorde concerning preventive investigations regarding suspicious transaction reports, whereas, together with the French police, checks were carried out about subjects belonging to mafia groups, in order to establish if they live in that country.

With Germany, during a visit of a BKA delegation to DIA on January 27, general issues were discussed concerning the cooperation with the German authority and matters pertaining ongoing investigations: in particular, preventive investigations aimed at closely examining alleged members of the Calabrian ‘ndrangheta and cosa nostra within the German territory.

During this semester, the bilateral cooperation project was further sustained upon a proposal of DIA and of the Frankfurt-based Prosecutor’s Office.

Among them, we may mention some proposals of cooperation relative to new joint analysis projects, which are under exam on Italian nationals living in Germany believed to belong or to have links to mafia-type groups.

Attention should be focused on the following judicial measures.

In January, in particular, in the context of a joint operation known as "Cerbero 3" (briefly described in the appendix) and also on the basis of the information provided by DIA, the German police arrested four Italian nationals charged with conspiracy aimed at drug trafficking from the Netherlands to Italy.

The results of that investigation are now examined by the competent judicial authority; the results have been also obtained by rogatory letters.

Furthermore, many checks on criminal activities perpetrated in Germany by members of Italian of cosa nostra are under way; these criminals help fugitives and launder money; also ‘ndrangheta members help clearing some murder cases, as well as camorra members who deal with drug and arms trafficking.

As to Spain, the information exchange helped to focus the attention both on the links between Italian criminal groups and those operating in Spain, and to improve contacts with Spanish police agencies, as there are some joint ongoing operations.

With Great Britain the information exchange continued with particular attention to the so-called GIOCO D’AZZARDO Operation, that is, an investigation on money laundering, drug trafficking linked also with another complex investigation, which up to now does not affect Italy.

With Greece, in particular, new spur has been given to an information exchange concerning Operation ARGO, which aims at fighting international cigarette smuggling.

Beyond the constant and fruitful cooperation with the Netherlands, an international investigation started concerning a criminal group dealing with money laundering and, probably, drug trafficking.

1. European countries (non -EU)

The period of interest was characterized by a regular activity aimed at fighting organised crime coming from Eastern European countries. The meeting of the Quadrilateral Group (German BKA, CGPJ, French CRACO and DIA) in Rome positively evaluated the activity carried out until now, and the technical group was entrusted with the task of extending its own activity also to organised crime coming from the Balkan area (mainly Kosovo-Albanian).

There are also the following important international initiatives to be mentioned:

• With Croatia, a meeting with a delegation of the Ministry of Interior – Department of Criminal Police – aimed at finding an agreement on the necessary steps to make a direct cooperation possible, in order to improve the info-operational exchange on matters of organised crime;
• Visit of a Russian-GUBOP delegation aimed at exchanging information on issues of common interest. On the occasion, an overview on the cooperation between GUBOP and DIA was outlined;
• With the Israeli Police, a cooperation was started concerning an information update on some members of Russian organised crime of common interest and concerning Operation Vlada which affects cooperation also with the Ukraine, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Austria;
• With Switzerland, the conclusion of an investigation carried out with the Federal Police and the Canton Police Forces of Zurich, Ticino, Grischun and Vaud which ended with the arrest in May of the fugitive CUOMO Gerardo charged with an arrest warrant connected to operation CRNA-GORA;
• With Romania, the operational exchange continued in order to provide an overview on organised crime in both countries. During the summit meeting in Bucharest, on May 15 and 16, the grounds were laid to strengthen the existing police cooperation.
• With USA, where DIA personnel attended an information exchange on some families operating in Italy and the USA; some Albanian criminal groups charged with drug trafficking are expanding their activities to this country.

1. Other countries

• The important info-operational contribution offered in relation to the investigation which helped to arrest in Cameroon the fugitive DE PALMAS Efisio, member of the dominant family of Mazara del Vallo (Trapani) and charged with an arrest warrant for international drug trafficking conspiracy ;
• Police coordinated support activity in relation to operation "EMISSARIO" which ended with the arrest of 15 persons and the seizure of 43 kg of cocaine concerning a drug trafficking between Italy and some countries of South America (see Appendix).

The most interesting meetings abroad were the following:

• in Algiers, February 28– March 3. The meeting dealt with issues connected with the fight against transnational organised crime and the study of a form of cooperation;
• France (St. Cyr au Mont D’Or –Lyon) March 14 and 15. Common interest matters were reviewed in connection with the issue "The Albanian Criminal Organisations" and the requirements for a deeper bilateral cooperation were outlined regarding both proactive measures and investigations;
• Ukraine (Lemberg) March 20-22. During the international conference on the phenomenon of transnational organised crime, the attention was focused on a concrete and fruitful cooperation between law enforcement agencies, in order to fight effectively transnational organised crime, which is able by now to influence economies and policies of vast geographical areas;
• Brazil (Recife/PE), May 17 – 20. The First "Congress of the Americas on Criminology" was held;
• The Netherlands (Rotterdam) May 11 – 14. Within the PHARE Project, financed by the European Union, participating in the workshop "Trafficking in arms and nuclear and radioactive materials" aimed at Polish and Slovenian high-ranking officials.

1. International meetings in Italy

The most important meetings were the following:

• Rome, January 17. Meeting with the Australian Minister of Justice and Customs and the International Operations Director of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), aimed at improving cooperation and enhancing the fight against transnational organised crime;
• Rome, February 16. Meeting with the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Russian Republic, dr. Victor N. MELNIKOV, aimed at acquiring information on legislation and investigation techniques adopted in Italy, in order to control suspect schemes of money laundering;
• Rome, February 19 –21. Within the PHARE project, a training stage with DIA personnel and a FIU delegation (Romanian anti-money laundering investigative body) was carried out to study the techniques adopted in Italy in this specific sector, in view of a change of Romanian existing legislation and rules;
• Rome, March 21. Visit of French Members of Parliament, headed by the person in charge of the Parliamentary Commission on Financial Crime and Money Laundering in Europe, to gain information on the Italian legislation on money laundering counteractions;
• Bologna, June 5 – 9. 5th Conference at the John JAY College of Criminal Justice of New York. DIA contributed to this conference by discussing the issue "the bilateral and multilateral cooperation both in the proactive and judiciary field of the fight against organised crime";
• Rome, different dates. Numerous interministerial meetings concerning the Session n. VII, VIII and IX of the ad-hoc Committee, tasked with the drafting of a UN convention against organised crime and its additional protocols on illegal immigration, arms trafficking and trafficking in human beings.

OMISSIS

POLICE OPERATIONS

The introduction contains a table concerning implemented counteractions.

A brief description of the most important operations in this semester concerning criminal mafia-type organisations involved in money laundering follows:.

1. COSA NOSTRA

1. Operation Calatino

In June 2000, an arrest warrant against 31 individuals was carried out for mafia-type conspiracy, aimed at extortion and public contracts. This operation, which began in 1996, led also to the arrest of two women who were responsible of the illegal businesses, on behalf of their imprisoned husbands.

2. Operation Faro

In June 2000, an arrest warrant was carried out against 30 individuals who live in various Italian regions (Toscana, Liguria, Campania and Marche).

In particular, the investigation, which started in 1997 in Toscana led to the identification of two organisations headed by main figures of Sicilian organised crime groups operating in Toscana, with links to Campania and Liguria, involved in drug trafficking, management of gambling houses and extortion.

3. Operation Arca

This operation started in 1997. In February 2000, an arrest warrant was carried out against 41 individuals, who were charged with several charges connected with mafia conspiracy, murders, kidnapping, extortion, money laundering, illegal possession of firearms. At the same time, real estate and companies were seized for an overall value of 600 million lire approx.

1. CAMORRA

This operation was conducted in 1996 as a part of Operation "SPARTACUS" concerning the family of the "casalesi" with the aim of identifying the authors of a large number of crimes committed in the Aversa (Caserta) area since the early ‘80s. Investigations resulted in issuing 46 arrest warrants.

In the referenced time period, further investigations brought about arrest warrants issued by the Law Court of Naples in the following months:

• January 2000 against 13 key figures of the "casalesi" family;
• June 2000 against 23 key figures of the "casalesi" family, for mafia-type conspiracy, attempted murder, extortion and arms trafficking;
• June 2000, against 6 individuals for camorra-type conspiracy, corruption, extortion, aiding and abetting and other crimes.

1. Operation Incudine

In March 2000, an arrest warrant was issued by the Law Court of S. Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta) against 4 individuals, including FABBROCINO Mario, head of a family, already imprisoned, for mafia-type conspiracy and other crimes. The activity developed in the framework of another operation, implemented in March 1996 made it possible to arrest 24 members belonging to the FABBROCINO family.

2. Operation Rubino

In March 2000, an arrest warrant was issued by the Law Court of Naples against four individuals for mafia-type conspiracy, attempted extortion and other crimes.

The operation, which started in June 1998, was initiated in the framework of another activity related to tracing and finding the well-known AUTORINO Giuseppe, fled from the high security hall of the Law Court of Salerno together with CESARANO Ferdinando, who was shot in an attempt to arrest him. Two other persons were arrested on board of a car used by the previous offender.

 

3. Operation Spartacus 3

In May 2000, the Law Court of Naples issued an arrest warrant against 3 individuals, including SCHIAVONE Francesco charged with a murder case. The operation started in 1999 – as an independent activity from Operation "SPARTACUS" – with the aim of dismantling the "casalesi" family, a dominating group in the Campania area in the 1980’s and 90’s.

1. ‘NDRANGHETA

During the follow up of an operation, which began in July 1999, an arrest warrant against 25 individuals was issued; another arrest warrant was issued by the Law Court of Florence against 6 subjects, already in prison, who were members of the "MANCUSO" group of Vibo Valentia, for criminal conspiracy, external support of a mafia-type organisation and serious fraud.

In May 2000, the Law Court of Turin issued an arrest warrant against 29 individuals for international drug trafficking, including members of the ‘ndrangheta family of MORABITO-BRUZZANITI-PALAMARA.

MALANDRINO Giuseppe played a key role in the criminal organisation. He comes from Apulia but often lives in Prague and has direct contacts with Turkish crime groups, thus providing quantities of drugs to the aforementioned ‘ndrangheta group and to higher echelons of Apulian organised crime.

Another person, GALLO Michele, plays also an important role, he is of Apulian origin too, and was traced and arrested in May in Spain. In June 2000, the Court of Bari issued several seizure warrants against the above-mentioned subject and two relatives of his, concerning assets worth ten billion lire approximately.

In June 2000, investigations conducted in order to establish whether mafia organisations disseminate their own terminals in works of expansion of the Reggio Calabria Airport and of a motorway crossing, an arrest warrant was issued by the Law Court of Reggio Calabria against three subjects linked to the family of LIBRI, charged with mafia-type conspiracy in order to commit extortions. At the same time, according to Art. 321 of the Italian Criminal Procedure Code, the company "REAL CEMENTI s.a.s.", belonging to an arrested businessman, was seized for a total value of 5 billion lire approximately.

1. APULIAN ORGANISED CRIME AND OTHER TYPES OF MAFIAS

1. Operation Emissario

In February 2000, investigations aimed at identifying a criminal network operating in Rome and including Italian and South American nationals involved in international drug trafficking, 5 subjects were caught red-handed in Livorno while collecting 1 kg of cocaine transported by two couriers on board a ship flying a Panama flag.

In the following month of June, the Law Court of Rome issued an arrest warrant against 4 individuals for criminal conspiracy aimed at international drug trafficking. A fifth individual, an Ecuador national, charged with the same arrest warrant and who fled abroad, is still a fugitive.

2. Operation Danubio Blu 2

This operation led to:

• in June 2000, the arrest of 4 Albanian citizens for crimes connnected with prostitution carried out by the French Police;
• in February 2000, the temporary arrest of an Albanian citizen, wanted and involved in drug trafficking, which, already in 1998, led to the arrest of 5 subjects and the seizure of 55 kgs of heroin;
• in March 2000, the temporary arrest of two Albanian citizens, heavily suspected of international drug trafficking;
• in May 2000, the arrest of the fugitive BERISHA Lulezim in Riccione (Rimini) charged with an international arrest warrant, who is head of a family.
• also in May 2000, during the same investigation, an Albanian truck was searched in Bergamo which resulted in the seizure of 18 kgs of heroin and the arrest of the Albanian driver.

On the whole, this operation permitted not only to carry out numerous arrests and seizure warrants of significant consignments of drugs but also to outline the operational scenarios and the structure of Albanian criminal groups which are operating in our country.

1. Operation Tosca

In June 2000, an arrest warrant was issued against 7 Albanians belonging to a criminal organisation mainly operating in Toscana, suspected of crimes connected with criminal conspiracy, in order to carry out robberies and thefts in private residences, and in Veneto, with international trafficking in arms and drugs.

2. Operation Urano

This operation began in 1999 and is connected with illicit activities carried out by Albanian crime groups linked with members of the Calabrian families of STEFANELLI-GIOVINAZZO who, in the area of Genova and Savona, are involved in international trafficking indrugs and prostitution offences.

The first segment of this operation resulted in the arrest of 8 Italian and foreign nationals, allegedly members of the crime group, who were caught red-handed while they were carrying drugs.

3. Operation Vlada

In April 2000, the Court ofTurin issued an arrest warrant against 5 subjects, all foreign citizens living abroad, for international trafficking in war weapons and who had contacts with a criminal group linked to Russian organised crime.

In the following month of June, the German police arrested in Germany one of the subjects of the aforementioned warrant, known as the head of the criminal group, based on information provided by DIA.

4. Operation Kalos

This operation started in April 2000, concerning a criminal group formed by Italian and foreign nationals, operating in Lombardia, involved in international trafficking in Turkish heroin and North-African cocaine.

In such a context, two subjects were arrested: in March a foreign citizen, a previous offender, and in May an Italian fugitive, a well-known drug trafficker.

5. Arrest of FASCIANI Carmine

In January 2000, the cooperation with the German BKA resulted in tracing and arresting, in a Lower Saxony town, FASCIANI Carmine, based on an arrest warrant for criminal conspiracy aimed at committing numerous crimes connected with drug trafficking, loan-sharking, extortion, illegal gambling. He has a significant criminal record and is a main figure of the FASCIANI criminal group, which settled down in Ostia (Rome), as a branch of the "Banda della Magliana". On that occasion, he was found in possession of a huge amount of money in foreign currency.

6. Operation Cerbero 3

In April 2000, the Court of Lecce issued an arrest warrant against 27 subjects, for a vast international drug trafficking, controlled also by higher echelons of the Apulian organised crime.

7. Operation Aliotis

In June 2000, the Law Court of Turin issued an arrest warrant against 9 subjects charged with international drug trafficking. During that operation, aimed at dismantling a mafia-type organisation connected with cosa nostra and operating for many years in Piemonte, Spain and North Africa, in the province of Turin, 436 kgs of hashish were seized on a truck coming from Spain.

8. Operation Crna Gora

In February 2000, in cooperation with the Greek counterpart, COSTA Cosimo was arrested; he is a key figure of a camorra type criminal organisation including 49 persons arrested in October 1999. This group is involved in international smuggling of foreign cigarettes and money laundering. In 1999 COSTA fled to Preveza, Greece.

In May 2000, as a follow-up of that investigation, and based on accurate DIA information about the whereabouts of CUOMO Gerardo, the Cantonal Zurich Police (Switzerland) arrested him in order to extradite him. In November 2000, he became a fugitive and proved to be a key figure in the whole investigation, having direct contacts with well-known, Apulian and Campanian previous offenders, some of whom were dangerous fugitives, as well as with multinational cigarette companies of sigarettes and with representatives of the Montenegro Government.

1. MONEY LAUNDERING

1. Operation Adriatico

During the semester under review, that operation, already described in the previous six-month report, resulted in the arrest of 5 persons, two of whom in February and 3 in May, and the seizure of drugs, firearms and cars.

Up to now, 23 persons on the whole were caught red handed and 4.7 kgs of cocaine, 11.5 kgs of heroin and 250 gr of hashish were seized. Moreover, checks concerning money laundering of illicit proceeds as a result of the above-mentioned trafficking, for an amount of 12 billions lire.

2. Operation Malocchio

It started in September 1996, as a result of an information exchange with the FBI, and dismantled a vast organisation involved in a huge trafficking scheme in cocaine from South America, money laundering and reinvestment of illicit proceeds in the international and financial networks.

To this very end, by resorting to financial expertise, the criminal organisation established a sophisticated business structure through a network of companies, some of which also off-shore, with the aim of concealing the illicit origin of proceeds stemming from economic activities. In fact, profits deriving from drug trafficking were not directly brought into the legal economic circuit, but cash was deposited in Swiss banks as "guaranteed bank deposits" thus the organisation was able to use huge amounts of international means of payment as "letters of credit", which were issued, if necessary, by major world banks and made it possible to conduct large-scale business operations.

This investigation, in the period of time under exam, involved economic, property-related checks. Competent Courts issued a preventive seizure order of assets (ex Art. 2 bis Law n. 575/65) for a total value of 60 billion lire approximately.