(ANSA) - The growing power of the 'Ndrangheta was confirmed by a report out on Saturday which said the Calabria-based mafia organisation made 36 billion euros last year.
The report by social research institute Eurispes said the 'Ndrangheta's criminal revenue in 2004 equalled 3.4% of Italian GDP. Drug trafficking was the organisation's most profitable business, generating 22.3 billion euros, Eurispes said.
Skimming off money from public works contracts and general business corruption were the next most lucrative activities, netting the group more than 4.7 billion euros - the equivalent of 18.6% of Calabria's GDP.
Prostitution and arms trafficking made the 'Ndrangheta an estimated 4.6 billion while extortion and loan-sharking brought in 4.1 billion, the report said. It stressed that the 'Ndrangheta's grip on the southern region was having a devastating social impact. The coastal town of Crotone posted the highest number of homicides in the country while the province in and around the regional capital of Reggio Calabria showed the highest level of mafia penetration of any other area in Italy as well as the highest jobless rate in the region (19.2%).
The study noted that 19 local government councils in the Reggio Calabria province had to be disbanded between 1991 and 2005 because of mafia infiltration. It also said that threats and intimidation were increasingly used by the group to frighten and control local government officials.
During the period 2000-2004, more than 320 such acts were reported, 121 in Reggio Calabria alone followed by 68 in Vibo Valentia, 56 in Cosenza, 46 in Catanzaro and 32 in Crotone. The 'Ndrangheta is believed to have been responsible for the murder of an important local politician earlier this month.
Franco Fortugno, deputy chairman of the regional 'parliament', was gunned down on October 16 as he voted in centre-left primary elections in the town of Locri. The slaying shocked the nation and fuelled fears that the 'Ndrangheta had become even more powerful and dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia.
The government subsequently announced an offensive against the organisation and on Friday, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu appointed one of the nation's top police officers to oversee anti-mafia operations in the region.
Italy's deputy police chief Luigi De Sena was appointed prefect of Reggio Calabria with special powers. De Sena has long experience in fighting organised crime and has recently been the main architect of the government's strategy against the Calabrian mob.
The cabinet also approved a six-pronged plan of action against the powerful crime syndicate including stepping up territorial surveillance and intelligence activity in the region, protecting local government officials more effectively and weakening the organisation's economic power through asset seizures.
"This is not a temporary response," said Pisanu. "It is ambitious, regards the whole of Calabria and is destined to last a long time. The fight won't be short or easy," he added.
Eurispes Chairman Gian Maria Fara commented on Saturday that "the Fortugno murder was the 'Ndrangheta's declaration of war on the institutional system. Calabria must not be left to fight this battle on its own... The State must show itself to be stronger and more efficient than the anti-State," he said.
