Global Gomorrah
Corruption Is Seen as a Drain on Italy’s South
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: October 7, 2012 89 Comments
REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy — Italy’s A3 highway, begun in the 1960s and still not finished, starts outside Naples in the ancient hill town of Salerno and ends, rather unceremoniously, 300 miles farther south as a local street in downtown Reggio Calabria.
There’s really nothing in this article that’s new in the way of information. It’s just more tragic evidence of they way that organized crime siphons off public funds in southern Italy. What I find interesting is some of the commentary that regurgitates the same old argument about northern Europe funding southern Europe, with all of the usual racist implications.
But Roberto Savianni, expert in all things ‘Ndrangheta, has documented the spread of the ‘Ndrangheta beyond southern Italy, northern Italy, and well into northern Europe. Outside of Calabria, Germany is the next largest stronghold for the ‘Ndrangheta. The mafia is a global organization and those old generalizations just don’t apply.
