Crime in Italy

This article deals with organised, violent and petty crime in the Republic of Italy.

Organized Crime

See also: Organized crime in Italy

The Mafia originates from Italy and its influence is widespread in Italian society, directly affecting a purported 22% of Italians and 14.6% of Italy's GDP,^[1] while even Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has long been accused of links with organized crime.^[2] The fight against the Mafia has cost the lives of many, including the high profile assassination of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

There are four separate Mafias controlling territory and business activities in four Southern Italian regions: Cosa Nostra in Sicily, Camorra in Campania, 'Ndrangheta in Calabria and Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia, exerting influence over 13 million Italians.^[1] Their business involvement reaches European and global scale.^[3]

Businesses, enterpreneurs, shopkeepers and craftsmen in these regions are expected to pay a "pizzo", or protection money, to crime syndicates controlling their area. There rarely is possibility of escaping payment, and persons not complying find their business premises and their lives at risk. Those not able to meet demands might find their business partly or completely taken over by organized crime.^[3]

In 2009, Organized crime in Italy generated $189 billion in revenue.^[4]

Violent crime

At 0.013 per 1,000 people, Italy has the 47th highest murder rate in the world. This makes the murder rate in Italy less than 1/3 that of the United States. Italy is also safer than Finland, France, Iceland, Australia, Canada and the U.K. and only marginally less safe than Spain, Germany and Holland.^[5]

Italy is also a country with lower rates of rape than most other nations of the Western world. It has the 46th highest per-capita rate of rape in the world meaning that Italian women are 7 times safer than American women. Similarly, Italy has a lower per capita rate of rape than most of the advanced Western countries in the European Union.^[5]

Petty crime

Levels of crime are unevenly spread throughout the peninsula. Areas most affected by high levels of violent crime are regions in the south heavily influenced by powerful criminal organizations: Sicily, Calabria, Campania, Basilicata and Apulia, where drug trade and gang feuds are common in marginalised areas in underdevoloped rural and urban settings alike. Political corruption and heavy racketeering operated by these organisations has greatly diminished the economic output an general safety in these areas^{[citation needed]}.

Most regions in the centre and north can be considered as calmer and more organised in levels of infrastructure and so present lower levels of criminal activity. Regions such as the Marche, Tuscany, Umbria in the centre and Piedmont, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Liguria and Friuli Venezia Giulia present relatively low criminal indicators compared to other western countries. But even in the north and centre levels of crime are unequally spread. Cities such as Turin, Milan, Monza Brescia, Padua, Vicenza, Venice( Mestre ), Verona, Bologna, Genoa in the North frequently suffer a wide diversity of frequent offences ranging from extensive drug trade, homicides, etc.^{[citation needed]}.

The difference stems from many of these crimes being committed by growing numbers of various unintegrated immigrant groups}}. Local criminal organisations also exist (especially in Veneto and Lombardy), but have to contend criminal ventures with immigrant and southern Italian groups. Dangerous areas heavily afflicted by crime are found in every northern cities, tensions between locals and immigrants have flared more than once in neighborhoods that only in the last 20 years have become ethnically diverse^{[citation needed]}.

The capital Rome presents medium levels of crime. But many areas of the roman periphery are extensively dilapidated and crime-ridden to a much larger extent than northern and central European counterparts. Shantytowns on the outskirts of the city housing more than 4000 people (mostly Roma gyspsies)^{[citation needed]} are focuses of elevated criminal activity. Petty crimes such as pick pocketing, theft from parked cars, and purse snatching are serious problems, especially in large cities. Most reported thefts occur at crowded tourist sites, on public buses or trains, or at the major railway stations^{[citation needed]}.

Fraud

Fraud is a major contributor to Italy's crime rate, with some level of fraud appearing in all sectors of the economy since the country's founding in 1861. Notable cases of financial fraud include the collapse of Parmalat in the early years of the twentyfirst century, and the Lockheed bribery scandal in the 1970s.

Insurance fraud also takes a high toll on the cost of insurance in Italy, with 115.646 incidents of fraudulent claims in 2001 alone, with 3.28 percent of all claims in 2002 accertained to involve fraud. The percentage rose above ten percent in some of the southern provinces.^[6]

State employees have been perceived to have such a high rate of absenteeism, often feigning illness, that in 2008 the government introduced a law to harshly prosecute civil servants who are found to be making fraudulent claims about their health.^[7] Fraudulent claims of ill health are not confined to state employees, with some physicians often willing to receive bribes to certify non-existent conditions so that citizens may receive incapacity benefit. A case was revealed in 2010 where in one quartiere of Naples alone, 400 people were found to be claiming mental illness while being healthy.^[8]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Tom Kington in Rome (2009-10-01). "Mafia's influence hovers over 13m Italians, says report | World news". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/01/mafia-influence-hovers-over-italians. Retrieved 2010-07-10. 
2. ^ "Mafia witness 'boasted of links to Silvio Berlusconi'". BBC News. 2009-12-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8395280.stm. Retrieved 2010-07-10. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Italy's 'coexistence' with the mafia | Roberto Mancini | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk". London: Guardian. 2008-06-17. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/15/italy-mafia-law. Retrieved 2010-07-10. 
4. ^ "Organized Crime in Italy generated $189 Billion in revenue in 2009". http://www.havocscope.com/organized-crime-in-italy-generated-189-billion-in-revenue-in-2009/. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Crime Statistics Murders (per capita) (most recent) by country". NationMaster.com. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita. Retrieved 4 April 2010. 
6. ^ "Le frodi assicurative - Bilancio sociale 2004, Unipol Assicurazioni". Bilanciounipol.it. http://www.bilanciounipol.it/E2003/IT/rapport/04_relazione_sociale/01_clienti/frodi_assicurative.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-27. 
7. ^ "Repubblica: Statali finti malati, è truffa aggravata". Flcgil.it. http://www.flcgil.it/rassegna-stampa/nazionale/repubblica-statali-finti-malati-e-truffa-aggravata.flc. Retrieved 2011-04-27. 
8. ^ 17 gennaio 2010. "A Napoli la truffa dei "falsi pazzi": 400 malati di mente in un quartiere". Il Sole 24 ORE. http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/SoleOnLine4/Italia/2010/01/falsi-pazzi-ciechi-indagini-napoli.shtml?uuid=8beeba80-038e-11df-ba6a-816ac37e5d54&DocRulesView=Libero. Retrieved 2011-04-27. 

External links

• Italy Black Markets Havocscope Black Market