The Italian economy is feeling the effects of the coronavirus crisis, while the mafia is feeling the support of residents who have been given food in these difficult days.

During these weeks, videos have been released showing mafia gangs distributing livelihoods to the homes of poor residents in Calabria, Sicily and Puglia.

"Shops, cafes, restaurants and clubs have been closed for a month," Nicola Gratteri, an anti-mafia investigator and head of the Catanzaro prosecutor's office, told The Guardian. "Millions of people work in gray, which means they haven't been paid for more than a month and they don't know when they'll be back. If the government does not find a way to help these families, the mafia will help them and thus control their lives. ?

Restrictions and measures taken to keep pandemics under control have had serious consequences for the 3.3 million Italians working illegally. 1 million of them live in the south.

When the first signs of civil unrest were noticed, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said "the mafia can benefit from poverty, it can recruit more people." Or, in other words, it can distribute free food such as pasta, water, flour and milk.

"The mafia is not just a criminal organization," said Federico Varese, a professor of criminology at the University of Oxford. "They are organizations that want to govern territories and markets. Commentators often focus on the mafia's financial aspect, but forget that their power stems from the local base on which they operate. "

Source: The Guardian