Photo: courier.com
“Thereis no more time: mafia money is eroding the healthy economic fabric of the country This alarm is not hyperbole; the crisis generated by the pandemic is crumbling, with the same silent bites of rust on iron, the backbone of the Italian economy.” These are the words of Roberto Saviano in his inquiry into the issue of usury in the Covid times.
Watch the video investigation.
“What the state and banks do not give, – continued – mafias can grant it, and while property crimes decreased from January 1 to June 30, 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, those related to usury increased by 6.5 percent.” Data considered partial to the real situation, see infographic.
The system seems to have changed. The moneylender is no longer the classic figure to ask for money, this has morphed into an entrepreneur or a company that proposes economic alliances, cost optimization and safe tax evasion strategies. In return, he asks to participate in the enterprise immediately. This gradually takes full control, leaving the entrepreneur with only a front office and other debts to pay.
Listen to Tommaso Pellizzari’s podcast for Courier Daily on the issue.
Saviano concludes, “
Entrepreneurs feel alone, abandoned, from the far North to the deep South, and if the state does not physically stand by those who suffer and denounce
, the risk is that distrust will take hold of those who economically hold the country up. If the state does not do its part, and if it does not do it now, the impetus born with Tano Grasso ‘s Fai and with all the initiatives created after the death of Libero Grassi, an entrepreneur who was a victim of extortion and was killed by the Mafia for having denounced it, will be lost. And this is not just about honoring the memory of the dead, but about keeping the living alive.”
Read Roberto Saviano’s full investigation for Corriere della Sera here.
If you would like to tell us your story related to usury or over-indebtedness in this pandemic time, you can write to info@adventum.org.
