Scope And Scale Of Italian Mafia

Sky's Alex Rossi examines the spread of the Italian Mafia and how its influence extends well beyond the plots of movies.

新闻背景：

意大利警方在首都罗马等地展开了大规模突击行动，出动了500名来自不同部门的执法人员，其中包括特种部队。逮捕了数十名涉嫌与黑手党组织相关的嫌疑人员。意大利警方表示，这次行动是罗马历史上规模最大的打击黑手党行动之一，其主要目标是肃清罗马海岸周边的犯罪行为。

意大利政府报告显示，黑手党在2011年共敛取了257亿欧元，占当年意大利国内生产总值的1.7％。报告同时指出，黑手党组织敛财所得主要来自绑架后敲诈的赎金，此后他们将非法所得再进行“投资”时，扩充自己的领土和势力范围成为了他们的首选。

伦敦警方宣布已于7日逮捕兰卡多尔。英国《镜报》称，兰卡多尔为“意大利政府最想逮捕的罪犯”。

现年64岁的兰卡多尔是意大利黑手党最重要的头目之一，由于他曾是一名体育老师，在黑手党内部被称为“老师”。上世纪90年代成为意大利巴勒莫市黑手党组织首领，他多次参与组织敲诈、贩毒等违法活动。据英国《卫报》报道，兰卡多尔曾因在1987年至1994年间从事黑手党活动被意大利法院判处7年监禁，但他本人并未出席庭审。此后兰卡多尔开始逃亡生涯，并被意大利警方视为“最危险”的罪犯。

Stinky rubbish blocking the streets of Naples is a sign for many Italians of just how deeply entrenched the Mafia is in Italian society. The breakdown and collisions cause riots and expose the corruption of what should be a public service.

It also shows just how far the tentacles of organized crimes have spread.

So all these money that they make they invest in the Italy economy, so they own business, they own shops and they buy a lot of free real estates. And that's to me is the most thrilling aspect of the Mafia, because then they merge with legally legitimate entrepreneurs and co-hold the economy and society more broadly.

The Mafia originated here in Sicily nearly 200 years ago and was known as the Cosa Nostra. Since then it spooned other criminal families in mainland Italy, such as the Camorra in Naples. The syndicate's reach expands the globe and the Mafia is a force in America with five mobster families dividing up the criminal spoils of major cities like New York. The term Mafia has also grown and it's used to describe as illegal gang

around the world, such as the Yakuza in Japan and Triad in China.

What they all have in common with the Sicily Mafia is the aspiration to become an alternative authority in a given territory.

So in a sense they set themselves up as a legitimate authority instead of the state.

And Italian Mafia is growing, even eclipse tourism when it comes to revenue. According to a recent report by C, an association of shop keepers, Mafira Incorporated now represents 7% of the country's GDP, generating a revenue of around 110 billion pounds every year.

The police having the past made high-profile arrests with members then paraded for the camera, but even so Mafia's grip on the industrial crime shows no signs of slipping.