Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1503087
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JULY 2023 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The island's geographical prox- imity to the Italian peninsula, with the possibility of avoiding customs controls, has in recent years fa- voured the "migration" of organ- ised crime of the various Italian mafia clans. In its latest report, the DIA says Malta's particularly favourable tax regime, and ease-of-business reg- ulations, "allows the various clans to carry out profitable money laundering activities." Various examples are present- ed of typically internationalised financial crime using Maltese companies, together with other companies in Cyprus or the Brit- ish Virgin Islands, to avoid pay- ing millions in customs duties on smuggled fuels and lubricants. But it is in the betting indus- try that main components of the southern Italian crime group known as the 'Ndrangheta, have largely taken root, together with the Santapaola-Ercolano mafia clan of Catania. "In March 2021, a police opera- tion revealed subjects who, in or- der to promote the interests of the Santapaola-Ercolano family, had created on the internet a special gaming platform, not authorised to operate in Italy, attributing its ownership to a Maltese company. Some police operations, conclud- ed over the last few years, testify that crime from Puglia, like the other mafia operations, is inter- ested in the illicit gaming market, with proceeds allowing the acqui- sition of corporate shareholdings, financial assets, vehicles, boats, luxury accessories and real estate. As happened in the past, the Mal- tese territory could continue to be exploited by clans mainly linked to the mafia for its fugitives." Another clan identified with in- terests in the Maltese islands is Bari's Parisi clan, said to be linked to complex tax frauds and money laundering, apart from oil smug- gling, extortion, drugs trafficking and gun-running. "In Italy, the Parisi clan are well placed within the business, economic and social context, particularly in animal slaughter and meat processing in- dustries through the control of co- operatives and private companies, and in catering." Italian anti-mafia police believe the Parisi clan has generated at least €170 million in tax fraud us- ing fictitious VAT credits claimed on inexistent financial transac- tions. In Catania, the Cappello-Bo- naccorsi, and Laudani clans, are said to control the international drug trafficking route from the 'Ndrangheta hotbed of Rosarno, just outside the Goia Tauro port, to Malta. "This trans-national organisation planned to import cocaine from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Spain, and was able to supply it to the most important local dealerships and Malta. The Rosarno-Catania connection highlights the ties betweenthe Rosarnesi and the Cappello clan of Catania, whose historical origins mean business between the two groups has been going on for several years." Furthering the Malta connec- tion are links between both the Cappello-Bonaccorsi clan and the Santapoala-Ercolana family, on a large drug trafficking route from Albania to the Netherlands, as well Calabria and Puglia in southern Italy. "The investiga- tion allowed us to outline the role played by some prominent figures of different mafia families within the Etna region's criminal scenar- io... Once again the centrality of the business leads to often rival criminal organisations choosing to coexist on the same territory, renouncing violence and bloody conflicts in favour of business." In December 2021, Catanese po- lice arrested 16 persons engaged in cocaine and cannabis traffick- ing from Sicily to Malta, together with Albanian and Maltese sub- jects. "The narcotics departed from Albania and transited from Puglia and reached Ispica, which hosts an operational base of the organisation, and then passed on from Calabria for resale to Malta, Lombardy, and also on the Sicilian market, specifically the provinces of Syracuse and Ragusa." Specifically, the Italian DIA be- lieves much of this trafficking to Malta is coordinated by the Mazza- ferro 'ndrina. "The aforementioned operation reaffirms the highly fa- vourable contiguity between the island of Malta and Sicily for illicit trafficking, as is also apparent from the 'Alter Ego' drug operation of November 2021 which outlined the role of prominent figures of the Santapaola and Cappello families, highlighting the reports, contacts and dynamics on the trafficking of large quantities of drugs and their supply, for subsequent sale to Mal- tese collectors." Santapaola-Ercolano clan The Santapaola-Ercolano clan of Catania has been mentioned regu- larly in the DIA reports since 2017 for their Malta connections and is now believed to use the island as a base for its fugitives. In 2021, Operation 'Doppio Gioco' led to the seizure of €80 million in assets from an online sports betting operation which had branches in Malta, Germa- ny, Poland and Italy. The Maltese company connected to the Santa- paola-Ercolano clan was alleged to have facilitated the evasion of some €30 million in taxes. "Through its criminal associates, it organised the illegal collection of bets through a network of data centres – only a minimal part of the bets were placed online; the majority were actually cash bets. A total of €32 million in bets were then charged to the Maltese com- pany, allowing massive tax eva- sion in Italy." The Italian finance police said the Maltese companies laundered over €62 million through acquisi- tion of land and buildings. The crime group used one of their associates, living in Sliema, as a director for various companies and gaming websites, who would smuggle hard cash from Sicily by car from other mafia associates travelling aboard the Virtu Ferries boat crossing. Wire-tapped and tracked assid- uously by Italian investigators as they drove around Sliema, St Ju- lian's and Valletta, the recordings reveal an intimate knowledge of Maltese business: "We've reached the peak now here... It's no longer the Malta we once knew," says one woman identified as Ilda, a resi- dent of Malta, to a mafia associate. Previous links between the San- tapaola-Ercolano clan were evi- dent in Operation 'Dirty Oil', the €30 million oil smuggling ring that saw the arrests of Maltese nationals Darren Debono and Gordon Debono: Italian associate Nicola Orazio Romeo – whose lawyer previously wrote to Malt- aToday insisting his client is not a mafia associate – was described by prosecutors as someone em- ployed "to further the business interests of the Santapaola-Ercol- ano family". Another investigation, Opera- tion 'Gaming Offline', includes Romeo in its list of accused, and dealt with a conspiracy on money laundering that used Malta as one of the bases for a gaming compa- ny, again on behalf of Santapao- la-Ercolano family. Mafia clans drawn by Malta's favourable tax regime