Nicoletta della Valle, lately there has also been talk in Switzerland of infiltration by criminal organizations. Is it a new phenomenon or has it been underestimated, if not ignored in the past?
«We know today that the Italian mafias have been active in drug trafficking in Switzerland since the 80s and that they still play an important role in cocaine trafficking in our country. Not only in Switzerland, the spread and activities of the 'Ndrangheta in particular have long been ignored. This is also due to the fact that criminal organizations such as the mafias conduct apparently legal activities despite their aim being to acquire money and power through money laundering, trafficking in human beings, arms or drugs. The mafias are chameleonic and act opportunistically, launching themselves into any lucrative business, including gambling or drug trafficking. Furthermore, the crimes they commit only rarely concern ordinary citizens, so they are not perceived as a threat by the population. The fact that today we have more information about this phenomenon is due to the digitization of communication: if in the past deals were decided verbally, today it is done by chat or e-mail. If we gain access to these conversations during an investigation, we get more evidence than we did twenty years ago. Furthermore, mafiosi interact more and more via social networks. It being understood that a friendship on Facebook doesn't always correspond to a real friendship, these interactions make it easier to identify the ties between people. This also brings new challenges: if up to twenty years ago we had little information, today we have to fathom a vast amount of data. Securing a hard drive means sifting through thousands of photos and chats. This requires highly specialized experts equipped with sophisticated tools. In other words, if before we hid in anonymity, today we hide in the vastness of data».
In which sectors and how do criminal organizations infiltrate society and the economy?
«Let's take the building sector: companies or suppliers can afford to offer bargain prices compared to the competition, since thanks to the proceeds of drug trafficking they are not obliged to make a profit. Another strategy is to use low-quality material or to engage in human trafficking, putting pressure on workers, underpaying them or denying them days off or social benefits. In this way, companies of criminal origin steal contracts from those that operate legally, managing to strengthen their economic position. Furthermore, criminals infiltrate the social fabric maintaining a low profile: they carry out normal jobs, play football in the local society, sing in the local choir… thus concealing their role in organized crime».
Is this a widespread phenomenon throughout Switzerland or are there more affected regions?
«It is clear from the analyzes that all regions of Switzerland are affected. Nonetheless, by taking advantage of the family networks or contacts traditionally relied on by the mafias, various members of mafia clans from a single city or country gradually settled in the same city or region, giving rise to structures that have hitherto been active above all at the local level. . Many reports come to us from these areas. A large number of reports of alleged money laundering, drug trafficking or other suspicious business also come from the southern cantons, from the border areas with Germany or beyond the border with the latter and from the conurbations of Basel and Zurich ».
How does Ticino behave?
«The linguistic and geographical proximity with Italy favors the mafia presence in Ticino, for which it was erroneously thought for a long time that the mafia phenomenon concerned only this canton. Now we know that's not the case. The fact that Article 260ter of the Penal Code was applied for the first time in 2003 precisely against a Ticino lawyer convicted of belonging to the mafia, testifies to Ticino's promptness in tackling the problem. In general we observe a great awareness of the phenomenon in the Canton, also attributable to the intense activity of the Italian media. The Italian authorities are in fact aware that the mafias do not like being at the center of media attention, as it harms their business. This is what drives the Italian authorities to proactively and transparently publish investigations and names of defendants, and the media to regularly report arrests and kidnappings. The result is greater awareness of the issue and greater confidence on the part of the population in the State and in its action. This results in an increase in reports and, consequently, in a greater likelihood that such suspicions will lead to criminal prosecution. These developments will also be disclosed later, thus creating a virtuous circle unfavorable for the mafias".
You stated that there are also mafia infiltrations in public administrations. How serious is the phenomenon?
“Unfortunately, the picture we have is incomplete. Right now we're just looking at random situations that could prove problematic. Think of the cousin of an alleged member of the mafia hired as secretary to the police chief of a medium-sized city, to which the only comment we can move is precisely this kinship, or a candidate for a position at another police authority whose father is a defendant in a Mafia proceeding. In Switzerland it is rightly believed that the faults of a person should not fall on the family members. However, we must not forget that mafia organizations are firmly based, even the 'Ndrangheta almost exclusively, on family ties. Membership of a relative in a gang also creates obligations for family members extraneous to crime, whether they like it or not. It's hard to distance yourself. Recruiting staff or awarding contracts is therefore a sensitive issue for the authorities. It is therefore important to raise awareness and warn not only the authorities in charge of security or criminal prosecution, but also the civil ones. We have therefore recently decided to take stock of the situation to evaluate the real level of awareness of the authorities and whether the current tools for identifying, preventing and prosecuting mafia infiltrations are sufficient or present gaps".
How come the population, and partly the authorities, do not seem to understand the seriousness of the problem?
“There is indeed a discrepancy between public perception, the Police Crime Statistics (SCP) and the real crime situation. SCP reports police complaint reports. However, serious forms of crime are very rarely reported or found during regular checks, and are therefore greatly underrepresented in the statistics. In fact, these forms of crime can only be identified actively and with a great expenditure of means and personnel. For example, only by taking targeted action and analyzing encrypted communications are the police or customs authorities able to discover a large shipment of drugs and the organization involved. This discrepancy between public perception, SCP and reality creates problems in the allocation of resources. For example, in the event of an increase in break-ins, politics and society would immediately ask the police for a greater deployment of resources and a greater presence on the street and in residential areas. However, if resources were diverted from drug investigations, this would not have any particular negative impact on statistics. On the contrary: a decrease in the number of burglaries would also correspond to a decrease in the number of drug offences. A paradox that would be detrimental to the resources allocated to complex investigations aimed at dismantling drug trafficking and criminal networks".
How do the police deal with the phenomenon today (Fedpol in particular)?
«The magic words are cooperation and information exchange, nationally and internationally. International operations have made it possible in recent years to discover mobile phone-based encrypted communication channels used by organized crime. Thanks to the cooperation with Europol and Interpol we have gained access to this data. Despite the small number of elements analyzed so far, we have already been able to obtain an in-depth picture of organized crime in Switzerland. National cooperation is also decisive: the cantons identify crimes such as trafficking in drugs, weapons and human beings, the prosecution of which falls within their remit, but are only able to recognize the links in cooperation with experts from the national partners. For its part, Fedpol is able to identify networks and links between criminal groups in Switzerland together with its international partners. If it obtains information about an imminent crime from a foreign authority, it initiates preliminary investigations to examine existing structures and links. In the event that the suspicions are confirmed, the Public Ministry of the Confederation or the competent cantonal public prosecutor will proceed with the opening of a criminal proceeding».
Last year the National Council approved a postulate by Marco Romano which calls for better tools to fight against the mafias. In which areas and how could it be improved?
“Society, politics and authorities need to be aware that there is a need for action and that the Police Crime Statistics reflects only part of reality. Serious forms of crime are difficult to detect. If the cantonal police forces do not have sufficient resources to dig deeper, they will remain submerged. The fight against criminal organizations begins with their identification, and there is still much to be done in this area. Let us not forget that crime is the mirror of society: interconnected, mobile, global. Criminals know no borders and communicate encrypted in closed networks. When we analyze data from these networks, we always lag behind reality. We therefore work on proceedings that do not concern recent crimes, but perpetrated several years earlier, while at the same time crimes of at least the same magnitude are being committed that escape the eyes of the authorities and public opinion".
