Police officers in an ice cream parlor in Duisburg (archive photo): In the city in 2007, six people died in a shootout that was caused by a feud between 'Ndrangheta clans

Photo: Christoph Reichwein/dpa

They launder money and are increasingly infiltrating legal sectors of the economy: more and more Italian mafiosi are living in Germany.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior puts the number of members of the Italian mafia active here at more than a thousand. Of these, 519 belong to the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, 134 to the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and 118 to the Neapolitan Camorra, according to a Green inquiry available to the AFP news agency. The editorial network Germany (RND) first reported.

"According to the survey by the Federal Criminal Police Office, together with the state criminal investigation offices of the federal states, a total of 1,003 suspected members of Italian organized crime living permanently in Germany were identified for the year 2022," says the Federal Ministry of the Interior's answer to the Green Party's small question. Bundestag faction.

Many groups represented

The number increased by 87 compared to the previous year. In addition to suspected members of 'Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra and Camorra, 33 suspected members of the Stidda, a Sicilian criminal organization, and 37 suspected members of the Apulian organized crime group lived in Germany. Another 162 suspected members of Italian organized crime were not assigned to any of these groups.

They are particularly active in the catering industry, the food trade and the motor vehicle industry. Crimes are committed with drugs as well as through money laundering and tax fraud, the ministry said in its response.

Criminal proceeds of around 2.3 million euros were identified, of which only around 683,000 euros were confiscated in 2022. The ministry was unable to provide any information on the number of criminal proceedings against the mafia or the amount of actual profits.

Germany is “Europe’s washing machine” for criminals

The chairman of the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag Interior Committee, Marcel Emmerich, told the RND: "The mafia is spinning its web in Germany today as well as in large parts of Italy." It is managing to "increasingly build relationships with politics and business under the guise of supposedly serious business people «.

Germany is “Europe’s washing machine” for criminals, said Emmerich. It is estimated that more than a hundred billion euros are laundered every year. Emmerich went on to say that it is a first step that real estate is no longer allowed to be purchased with cash. "It is also necessary to set up an exit program to show those affected a way out and to weaken the structures of organized crime."

At the same time, Emmerich emphasized: "We must pool competencies at a central point at the federal level if we want to take more decisive action against money laundering, organized crime and criminal financial networks." The law enforcement authorities must be able to conduct complex investigations and be given the necessary resources to do so. To achieve this, the federal and state governments would have to work more closely together.

ala/AFP