ROBERTO SAVIANO, award-winning author of Gomora, an expose of the modus operandi of the Camorra, yesterday warned against the possibility that the Mafia might infiltrate itself into the huge reconstruction programme that will now follow in the wake of last week's earthquake in Abruzzo in which 294 people died.
Writing in yesterday's Rome daily La Repubblica, Saviano said the people of Abruzzo risked the same "waste, corruption and political and criminal manipulation" that had been visited on the people of Irpinia after the 1980 earthquake in Campania in which 2,750 people died.
“The risks of the reconstruction programme are just that. The higher the damages are assessed, the more money, the more contracts and subcontracts will be generated and the whole flow of cement, movement of earth, diggers and building will attract the avant garde of subcontract building in Italy, namely the clans, the Mafia, Camorra and ’ndrangheta families . . .”
Saviano argues that the three Mafia organisations are already on the ground in Abruzzo, partly because senior godfathers have long been held in L’Aquila’s high-security prison (until last week’s earthquake) and partly on the basis of evidence that a number of wanted Mafiosi have hidden out in Abruzzo.
The author also claims that various judicial investigations have revealed that the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia, has long used Abruzzo as an illegal dumping ground for toxic waste products. The relatively low density population of the area, allied to its mountainous terrain, made Abruzzo an ideal illegal “dumping ground”.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, L’Aquila state prosecutor Alfredo Rossini acknowledged that the large sums of money (perhaps €4-€5 billion) which will be made available for reconstruction would certainly prove “appetising” to organised crime. Last weekend, the prosecutor confirmed his office had opened an inquiry into the earthquake, focusing on illegal building practices in the region. Yesterday, he said that this inquiry would also be on the lookout for Mafia infiltration into the rebuilding process.
Massimo Cialente, mayor of L’Aquila, the Abruzzo regional capital and the city closest to the epicentre of the earthquake, speaking on national radio yesterday morning, argued that he and regional president Gianni Chiodi would both ensure that organised crime did not gain control of the rebuilding. He said: “I have already called on the police to help us set up a commission which will ensure that we make no mistakes. This is a challenge not just for Abruzzo but for the whole country. We cannot allow ourselves to waste even a single cent.”