The Mayor of Naples Fears a Social Uprising and a Mafia Boom – NRK Urix – Foreign News and Documentaries

With the strict measures of the crown, Naples is calmer than usual. Behind closed doors and closed shop shutters, there is discontent and anger that worries the mayor of the city, Luigi de Magistris.

Earlier this fall, protests against the second round of coronary restrictions led to violent clashes between police and protesters. In the city center, aid organizations that often work in conflict zones in other countries have started distributing food to Neapolitans without income.

– The situation is naturally serious in many parts of the world. But in a city like ours, it can be even more dangerous, says de Magistris. He’s sitting in his office overlooking the harbor, where empty cruise ships are moored in anticipation of better days.

Vesuvius Warning

– Until February of last year, Naples was the city in Italy where the economy grew the fastest, thanks to tourism and cultural initiatives. It created growth, it provided jobs for the unemployed, it turned people away from crime and illegality. The virus has caused all of this to collapse. Allow a new poverty to take hold, says the mayor.

– I know Naples well and I know that the city can be like a pressure cooker.

De Magistris points out the window, toward the volcano on the horizon.

– You see Vesuvius there, he says, and explains how a social uprising can break out at any moment, if nobody takes action.

– This is a danger I feel.

In a city where a quarter of the population has no income, the lack of a strong safety net is perceived as precarious. Of course, the problem is not just about covid-19. As in other parts of southern Italy, undeclared work is widespread.

Or “gray” work, as one unemployed actor told NRK before meeting the city’s mayor: full-time jobs with short part-time contracts. If the work disappears, only a fraction of the actual work effort is recorded.

Therefore, the economic effects of the shutdown become so dramatic so quickly. When income is lost, there is no cushion.

– Earlier this week, I spoke to a woman in a food queue inside the old town. He said he was not afraid of Covid. He was afraid that he would lack food.

– This is how it is. And I said it at a meeting with the government in Rome a few months ago as well. I cannot be in a situation where the citizens of my city have to choose between starving or dying from Covid. It is completely unsustainable, which is why I have worked so hard to implement extraordinary support measures from the government.

The Camorra seizes the opportunity

Luigi de Magistris has not always been a politician. For many years he worked as an interrogation judge further south in Italy, where, among other things, he investigated the links between organized crime and political life. He has no doubt that the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, knows how to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the pandemic.

– Criminal organizations have liquid funds, they have no bureaucracy, they are fast and they know which doors to knock on.

The mafia knows well how to adapt to new situations. While the shutdown may have created problems for some activities, such as drug sales, they have introduced the impact elsewhere.

An upward adjustment in criminal credit activity is one of the immediate danger signs.

– They look for people who no longer have money to put food on the table. Or the owner of a small business, who sees no way to avoid bankruptcy. The lender always presents himself as someone who does you a favor, he is a devil disguised as an angel. The mob may also propose to buy the business. So now we see that the mafia penetrates the legal economy, also through big business. What we are seeing is a greater contamination of the economic and financial system of the country.

Magistris Tar at rest.

– We are in a very serious crime situation. The consequence is a social and democratic crisis.

Crisis and crime packages

For many years, De Magistris has warned against organized crime’s ability to react quickly during periods when large public investments are opened.

Therefore, it is important to be more vigilant also in the reconstruction phase that will hopefully mark 2021, mainly thanks to the new funds from the pan-European crisis package of the crown.

– I have said it from the beginning: these funds are a huge resource for Europe, but we also run the risk that there is a great opportunity for the penal system that I have seen closely as a judge and as a politician for many years, he says. .

The last few years have provided several examples of how the misuse of public funds has become a major source of income for the mob.

– This is where the great challenge lies at the intersection of organized crime, politics, institutions and business. And that’s why I think this period in which we live is so important.

The mayor does not say this to say that he would have preferred the money not to arrive, he assures.

“Common European funds can help us reduce inequality, strengthen social cohesion, create development opportunities, rethink the environment and ensure sustainable infrastructure,” says de Magistris.

– I am not one of those who ask people to stop everything just because there are dangers. No, you have to know the dangers to be able to resist them.