Cpr - Repatriation detention centers

Islands. Spaces of education and civil disobedience

Cpr - Repatriation detention centers

Islands. Spaces of education and civil disobedience

Lower Lazio, where mafias and corruption do not cause a scandal

The south of Pontine is a land impoverished on a civic and social level by years of stable clientele, brutal violence and mistrust towards corrupt institutions

Elena Ciccarello Director of lavialibera

Updated on May 12, 2023

The idea of ​​dedicating a special to lower Lazio developed in the summer of 2022, when Graziella Di Mambro, our correspondent in the area, telephoned to report an extraordinary event. The exponent of a well-known Camorra family, convicted of extortion, had harshly attacked on Facebook the former mayor of Formia, author of pressing public complaints against her family and, more generally, against criminal affairs in the area. The publication of the post was greeted by a chorus of solidarity from the citizens... in favor of the criminal. All this happened a few months after another event: on 2 June, the parish priest Alfredo Micalusi had taken advantage of the homily during the patronal feast of Sant'Erasmo to forcefully draw the attention of the faithful to the presence of the mafia, urging the institutions to resolve any ambiguity towards it. Graziella's message ended like this: "Someone is trying to stir things up, we should tell about it."

Luigi Ciotti: "Lower Lazio, against indifference"

At the beginning of 2023, after a similar experience in Foggia in 2021, we then went to Fondi, Formia, Gaeta and surrounding areas. To get to know this border land up close, which is no longer Rome but is not yet Naples, far from the institutional spotlight, a fiefdom of long-standing political consortiums and an area of ​​expansion for the Camorra.

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Where natural beauty and history have been defaced by speculation and abuse, local resources exploited by private and criminal interests. Where anyone who does not submit to this normality, or is not attracted by a well-being partly based on clientelism and money laundering, is judged to be a moralist and a nuisance. On the streets of Formia it was easy to encounter signs of apparent wealth, the prerogative of a few, but smoke and mirrors for many.

Marco Omizzolo: "South Pontine, criminal melting pot"

The magistrates of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Rome explain that the normalization of the mafias in the southern Pontine area, as in the whole of Lazio, occurs above all thanks to entrepreneurs, bureaucrats and political representatives. In places where politics and crime take selfies together, it is difficult to distinguish "the armed wing" from the "white collars", the two souls merge within an elite that likes to show off, that uses its wealth to capture consensus and friendships with hairy generosity. This network of collusion lives without encountering resistance, without provoking the scandal that one would expect from a community that trusts the institutions. The south of Pontine is a land where everything seems for sale, impoverished on a civic and social level by years of stable clientele, brutal violence and mistrust towards corrupt institutions. There are those who adapt out of convenience and those out of fear. In fact, everyone here knows but few protest, take a stand or take sides against this artificial wealth, built with violence and abuse. These few deserve support.