Author Alison Jamieson once described the fight against organised crime in Italy as the “mafia-antimafia seesaw”. There have been plenty of ups and downs in this long history. And yet, at the moment, it looks as though the seesaw is weighted on the mafia’s side.
It could be argued that Benito Mussolini almost succeeded in eradicating mafia groups during his dictatorship. When a regime itself is the intimidator, there’s not much space in which criminals can operate.
However, the current government’s rightwing agenda is having a negative influence on the fight against the mafia. Laws with a proven record for tackling mafia groups and corruption are being meddled with in the name of “efficiency” and “privacy”.
