(by Stefania Fumo).
Immigrants and Roma people were
the main racket of an alleged mafia syndicate in the Italian
capital, judicial documents showed on Wednesday.
Former center-right Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno is among
some 100 people under investigation in a probe into the alleged
mob that rigged public contracts that has netted 37 arrests so
far.
The ex mayor - under whose watch many a police raid was
conducted on Roma and Sinti camps in the capital - on Wednesday
suspended himself from his positions within the small, rightwing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.
Among those put behind bars is the Roman mobsters' alleged
leader Massimo Carminati, a former member of the NAR neofascist
terrorist group and of the Banda della Magliana crime gang.
"Do you have any idea how much I make on these immigrants?"
Carminati's right-hand man Salvatore Buzzi says in a 1,200-page
wiretap from early 2013.
"Drug trafficking is not as profitable".
"We closed this year with turnover of 40 million but...our
profits all came from the gypsies (Roma people), the housing
emergency and the immigrants," Buzzi said.
"We didn't make any money in the other sectors," he added.
These sectors, according to prosecution documents, included
waste management and recycling, parks maintenance, and immigrant
and refugee reception centers (CIEs).
The immigrant racket - which allegedly involved controlling
the social cooperatives running the CIEs and the Roma people
camps - was allegedly coordinated by Luca Odevaine, a deputy
cabinet secretary under former center-left mayor Walter
Veltroni.
"This gentleman criss-crossed all key public offices
dealing with the immigrant emergency, both vertically and
horizontally," prosecutors wrote.
"Odevaine used his contacts...to steer authorities to
follow his indications, aimed at furthering the economic
interests of certain entrepreneurs, which he shared," the
prosecution wrote.
"We must take the measure of (current center-left Mayor
Ignazio) Marino," Buzzi continues in the wiretap from early
2013, soon after the Democratic Party (PD) candidate Marino
replaced Alemanno.
Marino, it appears, proved difficult to approach.
"They trust (center-left Lazio Governor Nicola) Zingaretti,
no one trusts Marino," Buzzi says in the wiretap.
Also on Wednesday, the United Nations refugee agency
(UNHCR) blasted the targeting of vulnerable newcomers and
discriminated minorities as a profit-making enterprise.
"Refugees...are not merchandise for criminal affairs,"
said UNHCR Regional Representative for Southern Europe Laurens
Jolles.
As well, Italy has been repeatedly criticized by human
rights watchdogs like Amnesty International for ongoing
discrimination against the Roma and Sinti people's rights to
education, housing, health care and employment.
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