The Mafia in Italy – Two Schools of Thought

While I may be right in claiming that the vast majority of Italians think mafia type organised crime is bad for Italy, there are other Italians, possibly in a minority, who don’t think criminal organisations like Italy’s various flavours of mafia are so bad, especially for their back accounts.

Recently departed former Italian president and politician, Francesco Cossiga, seemed to think Italy should live with its mafia problem.  There are indications that the head of the current Italian government, Silvio Berlusconi, appears to agree with Cossiga, and I’m pretty sure Italian senator, Marcello Dell’Utri agrees too.  The silence of the Vatican on the mafia issue at times may indicate that there are even some within the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church who are not wholly averse to the mafia.  And mafia funding of the Vatican has long been suspected: The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia.

On the other hand, those Italians who have suffered at the hands of the mafia, which is not afraid of assassinating, or threatening to assassinate or harm women and children, and has ruined families, do not think Italy should live with the mafia.  Far from it, there are some extremely courageous people, such as writer and journalist Roberto Saviano, and all the members if Italy’s official and unofficial anti-mafia organisations, who would be more than happy to see the mafia eradicated, as if it were some life-threatening disease. Libera is one such Italian unofficial anti-mafia organisation.

Italy’s interior minister Roberto Maroni who has been rounding up huge numbers of mafia members, also seems to believe that Italy would be better off without the mafia, and so does former Berlusconi ally, Gianfranco Fini, as evidenced by a very recent article on the FareFuturo website which criticises Italian senator Marcello Dell’Utri’s open ‘support’ for the mafia.

So, there are two very distinct schools of thought with regard to the existence of the mafia in Italy, which are:

Mafia School of Thought One

Live with the mafia – it’s entrenched in Italian society, and nothing can be done to get round this fact.

Mafia School of Thought Two

Eradicate the mafia – Italy would be much better off without it.

What do you think?  Is the mafia good or bad for Italy?

By the way, from what I’ve heard, it’s surprisingly easy to become entangled with the mafia in Italy.