The Italian mafia is less violent, with an interest in the technological world and focused on expanding through Ecuador and other Latin American nations, according to a recent study.
Referential image. An Italian police officer in an operation against the mafia, in May 2023.
The latest semi-annual report from Italy’s Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (DIA) highlights the links of that country’s mafia with Ecuador and five other Latin American nations.
The Italian authority highlights that mafia clans continue an “incessant process of adaptation” to new contexts, with increasingly advanced investment strategies and even taking advantage of public resources such as European funds.
In this global scenario, the anti-mafia authority focuses on the interest that criminal groups have in expanding in Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Argentina.
“Italian organized crime has been able to take advantage of the advantages offered by globalization, with flexible organizational structures that allow international exchanges and investments,” says the DIA report.
And what is the interest of the Italian mafia in countries like Ecuador? The reason is simple, says the DIA, and focuses on the contacts of these countries with drug trafficking cartels.
Specifically, the ports of Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador concentrate international cocaine trafficking, an activity that fuels the economic income of the powerful Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta.
Sophisticated use of technology
The report highlights that recent anti-drug raids have identified infiltrations of the Italian mafia in the United States and Canada, as well as European countries such as Spain, France and the United Kingdom.
Their sophisticated use of the latest encryption, messaging and even “advertising in illegal markets and disinformation on the internet for profit” has contributed to this “relocation” of activity.
Along with “traditional” activities, such as drug trafficking, prostitution or clandestine work, the investigation warns that “there are increasingly widespread illicit areas that cause less alarm and social disapproval, but that generate enormous benefits by compromising the normal market dynamics.
An example is the mafia’s interest in the metaverse, a technological business in the development phase, cryptocurrencies and NFT virtual objects.
