What is not working in the management of assets confiscated from the mafia

Law 109/96 allows assets confiscated from the mafia to be returned to the community. But its application still reveals many problems

Padded jacket, dark glasses, low gaze. The images of the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro, the Cosa Nostra super fugitive, went around the world. And together with the satisfaction of a long-awaited capture, the debate on the fight against the mafia has exploded again.

Camorra, 'ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra, Sacra Corona Unita are first and foremost economic and financial potentates, with properties and interests in every corner of Italy and the world. A fundamental aspect of the fight against organized crime is the dismantling of these empires. And a tool that allows not only to hit the mafias in the wallet, but also to redistribute their assets to the community, is law 109/96.

109/96: a good law

We often talk about ineffective, late and harmful laws. Bad regulations. The number 109 of 1996 instead represented a turning point. It regulates the confiscation of assets owned by mafia members and, above all, their reassignment. Thanks to it, houses, land, companies and objects once owned by organized crime can become community assets. They are managed in their new life by public bodies or, often, third sector organizations that obtain them on loan for use.

It is an idea born from the bottom. Libera, the anti-mafia association founded by Don Luigi Ciotti, strongly wanted it. He obtained it, in fact, in 1996. Over time he also managed to improve it, as when in 2010 the government - on the proposal of activists - established an agency dedicated to the management of these assets, the ANBSC (National Agency for the administration and destination of seized and confiscated assets).

Confiscated assets: how many and where they are

To take stock of this legal instrument, almost thirty years after its entry into force, it is useful to start from the numbers. The Ministry of Justice provides them to us in its six-monthly report to Parliament.

First consideration: there are many assets seized. The government has files relating to 230,517 assets in its databases as of June 2022. Of these, only around 40% were released from seizure and returned to their owners at the end of the judicial process. Second consideration: seizures have been decreasing for years. Since 2017, on average less than 500 new files per year. Third consideration: such goods are everywhere. The regions historically with the highest mafia concentration - those in the south and Sicily - remain first in the ranking, but significant percentages of confiscations are also recorded in the center and north.

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«Let's dispel the myth of the mafia rooted only in the south. Today organized crime is everywhere, albeit in a non-homogeneous way", comments Tatiana Giannone from Libera. «Depending on the locality, if anything, we find different types of goods. In Sicily a greater percentage of land, in Emilia-Romagna of companies".

The data confirms this scenario. Whether you look at the number of cases opened in courthouses or the amount of assets, the south dominates, but no region can be said to be free from the mafia phenomenon. 38.6% of the assets registered in the government's central database are in the south, 34% in the islands (where Sicily accounts for the lion's share). 16% are located in the north, while the center closes the ranking with 11.2%.

What are we talking about when we talk about confiscated assets

The seizure of an asset starts only when the owner, accused of mafia association, does not demonstrate its lawful origin. With a second degree conviction, the property is confiscated and transferred to the relevant agency, the ANSBC. Only following the final conviction is it assigned to the State in its various branches (from ministries to law enforcement) or to local authorities, which in turn can have it managed by a third sector organisation.

The assets mentioned in the ministerial report may be at a different stage of this long process. 39% of the 230,517 assets registered by the ministry were finally released, and 15.3% are still in the preliminary phase, simple proposal for seizure.

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How many goods, then, have really been entrusted to the community? The answer is not simple. The information transmission system between the relevant agency and the government has not yet become fully operational, and the ministry in its report indicates out-of-date numbers for this reason.

Open Regio, a dedicated public portal, speaks of 21,038 goods destined for 30 June 2022. Other estimates arrive at slightly lower figures, around 19 thousand. In any case, it is these numbers that are the focus of criticism from part of the anti-mafia world. Many, too many confiscated assets remain unused or, worse, occupied illegally by the old owners.

Too many abandoned goods. And we wait up to ten years to get to the assignments

Matteo Iannitti is a journalist for the online magazine I Siciliani Giovani. It is a newspaper that has always dealt with anti-mafia issues. Its editorial office is based in a room seized from organized crime. He is heir to I Siciliani, the newspaper of Pippo Fava, who was killed by the clans precisely because of his activity as a reporter.

«We have many beautiful stories of assets seized and handed over to the community. Often romantic, touching stories", he explains. «But they risk remaining whiteflies. Out of approximately 45 thousand assets that we know are destined for or under management, we count less than 2,500 active social experiences."

Libera has a more nuanced opinion: «Many steps forward have been made in 27 years. Today almost a thousand third sector organizations manage former mafia properties. Many companies have found their place in the legal, healthy market", observes Tatiana Giannone. She too, however, shares certain doubts: «More than 10 years can pass from seizure to social use of the property. Long, very long times, in which properties are not actually available to people."

Transparency that is missing

Transparency is in theory a pillar of anti-mafia legislation. Citizens have the right to know in detail what the State has wrested from organized crime. But even here the gap between theory and practice is felt.

The "RimanDati" report, edited annually by Libera, finds that 60% of municipalities have not published the list of confiscated assets in their possession. Even though the law requires it. Things don't improve if we look up to ANSBC, explains Iannitti: «30% of the goods destined are untraceable, that is, an exact address is not indicated. Land registry data is missing for many. And the goods not yet destined are completely anonymous, without information."

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«The National Agency for the administration and destination of seized and confiscated assets is the largest real estate agency in Europe – continues the journalist -. It is not acceptable that they lack the resources to carry out correct transparent information work."

Often it is the associations themselves who remedy the situation. Libera lists the third sector entities that have confiscated assets on loan for use. This year it has decided to do it even more in depth, and with the "Let's talk about the good" campaign it asks the asset managers themselves to talk about their experience.

«They are sabotaging law 109/96»

“Andrà bene” is the name chosen by Arci and I Siciliani Giovani for their project. The objective is to trace and insert all the assets confiscated on the island into an easily consultable map. The work is still incomplete, but the data on the city of Catania - where the initiative started - is already reliable.

For Iannitti, the legal tools are already there: «The problem is one of political will. We often find ourselves faced with a rubber wall from the institutions." Iannitti describes a scenario made up of thousands of properties still illegally occupied by the old owners - that is, by the mafia. And even more, tens of thousands simply abandoned, sometimes in a rude state: «We are talking about sabotage. Sabotage of 109/96, sabotage of the Rognoni-La Torre law, which created the crime of mafia-type criminal association."

The confiscated assets are not only immovable

The properties that the State wrests from the mafias are 46% real estate: villas, apartments, land, garages. But ANSBC also manages movable assets, such as valuables and cars; companies of all kinds; financial assets such as cash or stock packages. Normally, only properties and companies are targeted.