Two alleged mafia members
were captured in a wiretap laughing at a deadly Italian
earthquake and planning how to take advantage of re-construction
contracts, a court heard Wednesday.
Prosecutors said the conversation between suspected
'Ndrangheta members Gaetano Blasco and Antonio Valerio caught
them laughing at the 2012 disaster in Emilia Romagna.
They joked about building collapses and how they would be
able to take advantage of construction work in the conversation
that dates from May 29, 2012 - the second day of disastrous
tremors in the region that ultimately killed 12.
The Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia has spread outside its
southern homeland to central and northern regions of Emilia
Romagna, Lombardia, Piedmont and Veneto as well reaching down
into Sicily and Calabria.
Problems with mafia infiltration of all kinds of government
contracts is well known.
Police have made several arrests and numerous raids in
connection with mafia infiltration into reconstruction contracts
after the L'Aquila earthquake that killed at least 309 people in
2009.
As well, senior officials from the cultural ministry and
businessmen have been arrested on charges related to
exploitation and corruption in restoring structures damaged by
the earthquake.
Meanwhile, the wiretapped conversation was played as the
prosecutor in an investigation that led to a major bust of a
northern arm of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia said the group
had its epicenter in Reggio Emilia and was primarily focused on
business.
"In Emilia we don't have clans like in Lombardy or
Piedmont, but rather the presence of an organization purely
entrepreneurial in content," Bologna prosecutor Roberto
Alfonso said Wednesday.
Alfonso said the group had its origins on June 9, 1982,
when Antonino Dragone arrived in Emilia and went on to develop
the group's activities for the next 32 years.
"The association developed, growing like a metastasis in a
healthy body," Alfonso said.
Businessmen, public administrators, public safety
officials, and a journalist were among the approximately 170
arrested after investigations revealed the group's primary
mafia-related business activities were in the building and
construction sector.
Alfonso alleged that Marco Gibertini, a journalist arrested
as an accomplice to the organization, gave TV and print media
space to members of the group, allowing them interviews and
public declarations, and also connected members of the group
with politicians and businesspeople he knew.
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