| Table of contents no. 2/2010 |
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State's check
to the assets of organized crime
by Emanuela C. DEL RE |
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Answers by: Enzo CALABRIA, Alberto CISTERNA, Antonio MARUCCIA, Luciano SCALETTARI
The confiscation of the assets of the mafia is a success story and, above all, the destination of these assets to social uses. To think that on land belonging to mafia cosche (bands) families known as Brusca, Mammoliti, Piromalli, Molè and many others, now rise headquarters of associations employed in assisting productive activities or people in difficulty – for example, farm holiday tourism in zones in which economic activities underwent such intimidation that they remained under the yoke of the organized criminals – cannot but reinvigorate faith in the Institutions which, in this fight, have been able to count on a powerful ally: the civil society, which has now become promoter, also thanks to the contribution of various associations, of numerous and important initiatives.
The institution in 2010 of the National Agency for the administration and destination of the accumulated assets seized and confiscated from the organized criminality constitutes the most recent stage of a complex legislative and operative process, already preceded by the institution of the Special Commission of the Government for the management and destination of the assets confiscated from organized criminality.(Foto Ansa) |
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| Essays and articles |
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 | In our global and globalized world, now composed of truly variegated, multicultural and ethnically mixed groups, where in the schools, homes, shops, on the streets, different languages are spoken and where, above all, the young people are in search of an identity which is not only the product of different cultural fragments or an undefined puzzle composed of mad weavings, the diffusion of a new sentiment of belonging is important, which does not deny the roots with the past, but which is the precious experience of a serene growth towards a conscious future.
The risk of ‘homegrown’ terrorism could become the desperate response to the search for unobtainable values and beliefs in everyday life, made up of dissimilarities and the sensation of being ‘out of place’.
The religious longing perceived as the only source of truth to reach and impose also through martyrdom and the extreme sacrifice of self, risks being the only possible way to change life in a Western hemisphere, which is frequently based on consumerism, without ideologies and, apparently, devoted to the ephemeral.... |
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 | To understand the exact distinction between recycling (Art. 648 bis Criminal Code) and reinvestment of illegal capital (Art. 648 ter. c.c.) and that between these specific crimes and the common one of receiving (Art. 648. C.c.) seems to be of fundamental importance for a better and vaster application of a sanctioning instrument which, today more than yesterday, is potentially more effective in striking at the criminality, particularly that of the organized ‘financial assets’, by removing and subtracting the resources gained from illegal activities, by preventing the laundering and re-use, either in further criminal activities or on the market, with injurious effects on the competition. For a reconstruction of this controversial question, we propose the regulatory framework of reference.(Foto Ansa) |
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 | The debate on the usefulness and timeliness of the safeguards that our System poses for the protection and prevention of money-laundering is still alive and titillating.
As for any crime, also for the release of illegally accumulated wealth into the circuit of the legal economy, one must weigh, more than those who are guilty or participants, the evaluations on the justice of the punishment, the effectiveness of the means of repression, the strategies of counteraction and the various resources available. It is undoubtedly a certainty that the needs of “prevention” must prevail over the repressive ones because, indubitably, less is spent and there is a tendency to obtain more results. Just as it is true that by tightening the net of the preventive measures one can obtain, ceteris paribus, increased successes, it is not said that the cost-benefit ratio of the action will always be convenient, especially if the effects of the protection regulations lead to ‘congestion’ of performance for the intermediary subjects, as well as, obviously, for those responsible for security and surveillance. Financial crimes, not dissimilar from the tax ones, bring with them considerations that fall outside of the legal framework, which are then tied, in a subtle and, at times, reciprocal way, to the lawmaking policy.... |
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 | Economic Intelligence has always gone hand in hand with all the other forms of Intelligence. In the majority of cases, it was considered an instrument of defence of the national economy and of penetration and knowledge of the economic initiatives of others. Marco Giaconi delineates the changes in the Economic Intelligence at the time of the global market, which has moved the operational axis; as well as the acquisition of information, it must also aim to influence and condition foreign public opinions. One could say the conquest of the hearts and minds of the target Country.
Anyway, economic warfare knows no limits in pursuing the primary interest of ones own Country and the Intelligence, as always, plays a fundamental role.(Foto Redazionale) |
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 | The continuous growth of the public debt, inducing an ever diminishing solvency of the debtor Country, puts the protection of the national economic security of the same debtor at risk. The dependence of a debtor Country towards the pressures of foreign protagonists (public and private) grows with the increase of the Government securities issued by the debtor Country and undersigned by the foreign entities. Furthermore, the growth of the debt stock of a Country puts the sustainability at risk, in the medium-long term, of adequate funding for its internal and international security. The recent default risk run by Greece has demonstrated the possibility of the verification of these consequences. The economic-financial Intelligence of the Information Services for Security can contribute a real cognitive support in the difficult dynamics of the debt return, given the constraints of economic policy. In this regard, the checking for ‘hidden’ conduct of productive systems/persons having mostly territorial characteristics could be important.... (Foto Ansa) |
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 | With the Law, 3rd October 2007, N° 124, the Legislator, in giving a new face to the structure of the information systems for security, and in redesigning the discipline of the Secret of State, also had to address the issue of the ‘controls’ on the correct application of such regulations, including the mechanisms therein, concerning the opposition of the Secret of State. In this regard, the criticisms on the scarce incisiveness of the Co.pa.co. and, consequently, the Legislator sought to delineate a structure free of the defects which undermined the operation of the previous system. The present Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the State is not only highly structured and has ample expertise, but has been placed in a position to be able to perform its very delicate tasks in an effective manner. |
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 | Was it possible to predict the emergence of the global Jihad and the consequent war against terrorism?
Perhaps it was, but it was necessary, at the beginning of the 90’s, to pay more attention to the indicators of a situation which underlined the growing turmoil in the Countries of the Moslem faith and which foreshadowed the strong social and political unease; to consider the historical factors which had led to such a situation and not to ‘fall in love’ with ideas and convictions bred in prejudices. The application of a Western type democratic system, in fact, and a diffused welfare which could not be reached over a brief period, showed conditions to be insufficient to solve the existent and inherited problems and to overcome the errors of political evaluation committed after the 2nd World War. In fact, Karl Meyer wrote: “… history is not a programme, but an account which can alert. It contains many warnings for those who believe they can anticipate the future …” (Foto Ansa) |
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 | Until a few decades ago, the creation of a device able to read the human mind could represent only an interesting proposal for the script of a science fiction film, but after only a few years, it takes the form of yet another milestone in the informatics technologies. A new era opens, based on the advent of instruments and methodologies able to “interpret” the communicative mechanisms and human thought- This, which once seemed an impossible dream, today can be considered as a real objective within the reach of man. Nevertheless, this activates a great debate on the ethical, sociological and moral implications of the possible consequences of these achievements. |
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| Surveys |
HISTORY
FROM THE ARCHIVES
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 | Last June, the Transport Commission of the Chamber, with an amendment to the Bill of modification to the new Highway Code, fixed 3.00 am, as the termination time for the sale and serving of alcohol in pubs, bars, discotheques and clubs and premises open to the public at night. A sign that wishes to urge people, above all, the young, to acquire a major awareness of the ‘sense of limitation’, leading them, in this way, towards ‘addiction’ free behaviour.
A closer look shows us that it concerns a preventive measure of times long past, as the archive documents attached here show very well.... |
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| FACTS, ANECDOTES AND LEGENDS |
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 | Arms for camels. Story of a lost occasion on the Riyadh-Rome axis, on the eve of the Ethiopian War. And yet it would have been a profitable deal from the economic-military aspect, but, above all, it would have been politically significant. The provision of arms would have sealed relations with Saudi Arabia which, together with the good relations in act with the Imam of Yemen, would have given Italy a preeminent role in the Red Sea, principally, in function of anti-English. Unfortunately, the activities of foreign agents and some misunderstanding which arose between the Military Authorities of Asmara and the agent of the SIM who managed the delicate operation, a good outcome to the ‘exchange’ was doomed.... |
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| FACTS, ANECDOTES AND LEGENDS |
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 | The need for secrecy has induced, above all, governments and large institutions, public or private, to create communications offices with the task of transmitting messages and impeding the reading of same by persons other than the recipients. Authentic “cyphering offices” which use, when they do not devise their own, systems of secret writing.
Among the great institutions there is also the Vatican, which still uses cipher keys invented by a known personage in the history of the Intelligence, but... |
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CULTURE
'Studies of Intelligence' |
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 | The culture of the Intelligence is the instrument through which we understand the role and the work of the modern services of information and security. An instrument given by the close examination of the studies and analyses of the principal “think tanks”, research centres, and Italian and Foreign Universities. This Columns Section intends, therefore, to select and periodically present the most significant studies on the subjects relative to the Intelligence structures, or to those directly connected, facilitating the comprehension of the history, methodologies and function of the most modern structures of the sector. A contribution to undo the many myths and banalities which have always accompanied the image of the Secret Services throughout the world and to acquire, on the contrary, knowledge of the role and of the work. |
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REVIEWS
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 | It is a book that could be defined “not politically correct”. A question of points of view. It is certainly true that the volume of Giuseppe Gagliano, coordinator of the “Strategic Group” international network of strategic studies and foreign policy, is a sure point of reference for anyone who deals with the question of “subversion”, be it violent or non-violent, pacifist, Christian or Ghandian.... |
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CHRONOLOGY
Organized crime
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 | File of the most significant arrests of the organized crime
during the last three months. (Open sources dates) |
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Terrorism
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 | “It is understood that an act of terrorism is a violent action, politically motivated, intended to strike objectives of symbolic value and destined also to intimidate a ‘targeted audience’leading back, socially or politically to the primary objective.
The act of terrorism, unlike that of ‘political violence’ (ascribable to individuals or groups who tend to act ‘in the open’) and that of the ‘guerrilla ’(carried out with instruments and paramilitary logistics) is usually performed by individuals or groups who operate in secrecy or undercover, or in any event, under disguised conditions within the threatened societies". |
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| A Story |
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 | For this he had not let a minute of his life pass which was not employed in making the ‘stuff’ … he possessed ‘stuff’ as far as the eye could see, and he had long eyesight.
Giovanni Verga from Novelle rusticane (1883).
The “Mazzoni” is a fertile expanse that has gathered the perspiration of many generations of the people of Campania. Irrigated land, scored by ploughs, cut by channels which interweave like a cobweb. To the geometry of the cultivations time has fused that of the cement which seems to break apart the perspectives, imposing an acid colour and renewing the story of the Campania countryside, rough and wise in painful sacrifices.... |
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APPENDIX
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