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Not sure about the US but unfortunately it is still a thing in Italy, especially the 'Ndrangheta. This is an article from 2014 [1] but even so, back then they s

Not sure about the US but unfortunately it is still a thing in Italy, especially the 'Ndrangheta. This is an article from 2014 [1] but even so, back then they said that 'Ndrangheta had a turnover of €53bn, and I can imagine it did only go up in the meantime. The bad thing is that it has "captured" most of Northern Italy, too, or at least according to what I have read online and in the papers (I'm not from Italy myself), and it also has a strong European presence: Germany, Eastern Europe [2] etc. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/26/ndrangheta-mafia-mcdonalds-deutsche-bank-study https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/26/ndrangheta-maf... [2] https://linx.crji.org/2019/08/30/bio-mafia-care-producea-in-romania-asociata-cu-ndrangheta/ https://linx.crji.org/2019/08/30/bio-mafia-care-producea-in-...

saiya-jin 7y ago
I can't find the article now, but basically Ndrangheta ended up so effective and successful in black money laundering, all other bad actors (drug cartels, other mafias, any bad guys) are using them for a fee. They are definitely in eastern/central Europe, in Slovakia government was toppled recently because its close ties to it, and because investigative journalist writing about it was executed with his fiancee. Mostly milking off EU subsidies, but whatever else gets the money, they want in, or they are already there. I can't imagine easy way out of that situation, government capture was pretty effective. Election change few faces but underlying flows mostly remain the same.
woodpanel 7y ago
Re: Germany Stuttgart seems to be one of the mafia's strongholds in Germany. Just last year one famous local Stuttgart "restaurateur" got convicted, as the Italian Carabinieri uncovered that he was the southern German bridgehead for the 'Ndrangheta. He was dubbed the "celebrity chef" as the rich and famous frequented the one restaurant he actually owned quite often, including soccer players and elected officials. Even after mafia allegations existed for decades. [1] Germany is often considered to be their backyard. Relatively wealthy. Even small villages will have enough italian food demand to sustain one of your restaurant/money-laundering-fronts. And a generally unsuspecting public and administration. The last one being a pain in the neck for Italian law enforcement. Many grandees of Italian mobs thus seem to live under fake identities more or less unbothered in northern Germany. After reunification they bought vast strips of coastal property in the former communist part of Germany for cheap. [1] https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.mafia-und-die-justiz-mafia-urteil-gegen-stuttgarter-promi-wirt.af300a2d-a511-4bc1-b305-6a25394a735a.html https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.mafia-und-die-...

saiya-jin 7y ago

I can't find the article now, but basically Ndrangheta ended up so effective and successful in black money laundering, all other bad actors (drug cartels, other mafias, any bad guys) are using them for a fee. They are definitely in eastern/central Europe, in Slovakia government was toppled recently because its close ties to it, and because investigative journalist writing about it was executed with his fiancee. Mostly milking off EU subsidies, but whatever else gets the money, they want in, or they are already there. I can't imagine easy way out of that situation, government capture was pretty effective. Election change few faces but underlying flows mostly remain the same.

woodpanel 7y ago

Re: Germany Stuttgart seems to be one of the mafia's strongholds in Germany. Just last year one famous local Stuttgart "restaurateur" got convicted, as the Italian Carabinieri uncovered that he was the southern German bridgehead for the 'Ndrangheta. He was dubbed the "celebrity chef" as the rich and famous frequented the one restaurant he actually owned quite often, including soccer players and elected officials. Even after mafia allegations existed for decades. [1] Germany is often considered to be their backyard. Relatively wealthy. Even small villages will have enough italian food demand to sustain one of your restaurant/money-laundering-fronts. And a generally unsuspecting public and administration. The last one being a pain in the neck for Italian law enforcement. Many grandees of Italian mobs thus seem to live under fake identities more or less unbothered in northern Germany. After reunification they bought vast strips of coastal property in the former communist part of Germany for cheap. [1] https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.mafia-und-die-justiz-mafia-urteil-gegen-stuttgarter-promi-wirt.af300a2d-a511-4bc1-b305-6a25394a735a.html https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.mafia-und-die-...