Italy is becoming more and more Trump-compatible

"Justice denied" - this graffiti tells the whole story... Foto: Eurojournalist(e) / CC-BY 2.0

(KL) – It is astonishing how cavalierly representatives of Italian politics deal with their links to organized crime. The most recent example is MP Prestipino Giarritta, who, to make matters worse, also sits on the National Anti-Mafia Directorate. After appearing on a list of suspects accused of leaking investigative secrets, the man refused to testify before a commission of inquiry. Prestipino Giarritta doesn’t have much to fear, even if the accusation is that the case concerns the mafia clans in Calabria and their infiltration of companies in northern Italy.

The fight against the mafia, which is being waged very seriously by some judges, public prosecutors and also politicians, and for which there are various public anti-mafia bodies, is made more difficult by the fact that the various mafia organizations are very deeply rooted in Italian society and many politicians, judges, public prosecutors and captains of industry are either on the payroll of organized crime or are under pressure from it in other ways.

Prestipino Giarritta should have appeared before the commission in Caltanissetta to answer questions from the investigators on the accusation of violating “Article 326, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code and Article 416 bis.I of the Criminal Code”. But the man preferred to remain silent and had his defense lawyers explain that the accusations “came from the moon”. The National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor relieved the accused of his duties in the Anti-Mafia Directorate and declared that various Mafia clans in Calabria had been well informed of the progress of the investigations against them.

These investigations, conducted by a special unit of the Carabinieri in Caltanissetta, revealed that the deputy, in the course of his duties as prosecutor of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office, responsible for coordinating the “’Ndragheta” and “Cosa Nostra” sectors, allegedly passed on confidential information to major construction companies, an area in which the various mafia organizations are particularly active.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, this passing on of confidential investigative information has caused “serious damage” and Prestipino Giarritta will probably continue to remain silent. The whole case will probably be passed from one court to another until it comes to nothing. Because that’s how it works in Italy – the mafia organizations enjoy the highest level of protection within “il sistema”.

It is therefore very practical that Giorgia Meloni, together with her Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio, has ensured that senior politicians, public prosecutors, judges and captains of industry can no longer simply be placed under wiretap and that the criminal offense of “abuse of office” has been removed from the penal code. The EU Commission is deliberately turning a blind eye to all this, because if Brussels were to start taking a closer look at Italy’s thoroughly corrupt judicial system, the links with organized crime would immediately come to light. Instead, Brussels continues to finance parts of this judicial system – for the benefit of corruption and the mafia. The victims are the Italians, who really just want to live in peace, but whose wonderful country is being completely exploited by “il sistema”. Will anything change one day?