“The mafias in the North are not silent”: Alessandra Dolci's alarm after the CSM resolution

The interview of the Venice prosecutor with the microphones of Il Fatto Quotidiano

The decision of the Superior Council of the Judiciary to include Rome and Palermo among the areas with a high mafia density, leaving Milan out, has raised doubts and criticism. Among these is that of Alessandra Dolci, who has been involved in anti-mafia investigations in Lombardy for over twenty-five years and is now the public prosecutor of the Republic of Venice, who looks with surprise at a choice which, in her opinion, does not reflect the reality of the mafia presence in Northern Italy.

“I'm amazed,” says Dolci to Il Fatto, underlining how the resolution, although it concerns the conferral of managerial and semi-managerial roles on magistrates, ends up transmitting a reductive message on the rooting of criminal organizations in the northern regions. "It is true that the resolution concerns the conferral of managerial/semi-managerial roles on magistrates, but it does not seem to recognize the significance of the presence of mafia crime in some regions of the North. I honestly do not understand the difference between the high mafia density in Lazio compared to Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia. Where final sentences for mafia association are now very numerous".

According to what emerged in the internal debate at the CSM, the criterion adopted would be that of a visible and territorially manifest mafia presence, as in the case of Camorra infiltrations in lower Lazio. An approach that Dolci believes is now outdated. "It is still the concept of military control of the territory. The evolution of the mafias is not taken into account. In the North, the imprinting given, I believe in a Milanese ruling, of the concept of 'silent mafia' is discounted. It is an oxymoron. It is wrong".

For the former prosecutor of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Milan, the judicial history of recent years demonstrates the opposite. " Operation Infinito-Crimine of 2010 comes to mind. It was a mafia so silent that five people registered in the register of suspects were victims of murder during ongoing investigations. Not to mention the many episodes of intimidation and extortion, carried out with brutal methods. I'm thinking of the Como area, the Varese area, where the bad reputation of certain mafiosi, especially 'Ndrangheta members, is so strong that serious forms of intimidation are not needed. Their presence is enough to intimidate”.

Dolci's words come at a particularly delicate moment. In the same days in which the resolution of the CSM is being discussed, the threats addressed to magistrates Alessandra Cerreti and Rosario Ferracane, public prosecutors in the Hydra trial, the investigation that hypothesizes an alliance between exponents of the 'Ndrangheta, Camorra and Cosa Nostra in Lombardy, emerged. An element which, according to Dolci, makes even more evident the need not to underestimate the mafia phenomenon in the North of the country.

"Serious and serious threats. More than the resolution itself, it is the not positive signal for the fight against the mafia that has affected. As my colleague Cerreti said in the chamber, serious episodes of intimidation have also been reconstructed in Hydra. And the investigation arises from a murder".

The prosecutor also recalls the theme of specialization in the judiciary, an issue that has accompanied the judicial debate since the time of Giovanni Falcone. While understanding the need to avoid differences between series A and series B magistrates, Dolci highlights how today knowledge of mafia phenomena is indispensable even in territories traditionally perceived as distant from the criminal dynamics of the South.

"I imagine that we don't want to create series A and B judiciaries. But times have changed. In Lombardy, in-depth expertise is needed both in the field of economic crimes, but knowledge of the mafia phenomenon is also needed. Because 'those who don't know don't see'. For example, now in the Lombardy area the presence of the mafias can be seen in the world of insolvencies. I'm referring to the phenomenon of cooperatives with the smell of mafia, which are created to fail and provide low-cost services to large companies clients”.

The experience gained in Lombardy today accompanies his work in Venice, where he took over the leadership of the Prosecutor's Office a few months ago. Even in Veneto, he observes, mafia organizations have demonstrated a significant ability to take root. "In Veneto, important investigations have been carried out on the rooting of the 'Ndrangheta in the Verona area and the Camorra in the Venice area. The day before yesterday I signed a directive to the police forces regarding the monitoring of spy crimes".

Among the obstacles encountered in recent years in the fight against organized crime, Dolci also identifies some regulatory changes which, in his opinion, have limited the effectiveness of investigations. In particular, it criticizes the ban on using interceptions collected in a procedure other than that for which they were authorised. "The ban on using telephone wiretaps in a proceeding other than that for which they were ordered, except for cases of crime for which arrest in flagrante delicto is foreseen. For many crimes with the aggravating circumstance of mafia, wiretaps would not be usable."