How mafias make billions by targeting hotels, restaurants in Italy: “Tasty victims of criminal organizations”

Italian mafias make more than three billion euros a year in the tourism sector and are expected to withdraw more money from future major events, a research center warned on Tuesday.

Organized crime groups preying on vulnerable companies from hotels to restaurants currently take home 3.3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) a year and will cash in on the Jubilee celebrations of the Roman Catholic Church and the Winter Olympic Games, research center Demoskopika said.

“Italian tourism is under attack. The 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics and the 2025 Jubilee are fueling the passion of tourists,” Demoskopika president Raffaele Rio said in a report.

The powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia, based in Calabria, alone accounts for half of all profits, the report said.

The Camorra based in Campania, the Sicilian Mafia and organized crime groups in the Puglia region also collect a lot of money from tourism.

While those crowd areas are in southern Italy, the groups have generated nearly 1.5 billion in tourism revenue in the country’s wealthy north, the report said.

“More than seven thousand vulnerable companies are at risk of becoming tasty victims of criminal organizations,” Rio warned, saying that about 15 percent of the 48,000 businesses in this sector have credit and debt problems, which made them vulnerable to “provision” of assistance. .

Organized crime groups lend money to businesses under punitive conditions, and use it to clean up ill-gotten gains.

“Criminals create a welfare system that oppresses businessmen who are in dire straits,” said Rio.

“They promise to survive financially, cover debts and ensure liquidity but at a very high price: control or complete acquisition of the companies.

“This bad program not only strengthens the power of criminal families in the area, but it also spreads money laundering, bribery and extortion that cripples the legal economy of our country,” he said.

The report on tourism in Italy comes after a few days A Catholic monk was arrested by Italian police for allegedly delivering mafia messages to prisoners.

In March, Italy expanded the controversial program removing children from their mafia families to break the cycle of criminal behavior that is passed on to new generations.

At the beginning of this year, Interpol issued a report showing that mafias, cartels and gangs in Europe are using fruit companies, hotels and other legitimate businesses as leverage to make huge profits. According to the agency, hundreds of criminal networks are able to penetrate the legal economy to hide their activities and dispose of their criminal profits.

Europol said the ‘Ndrangheta mafia’s profits from drug and arms trafficking and tax evasion are being invested across Europe in real estate, supermarkets, hotels and other commercial activities.