Italy’s
crime prosecutors and its farm organization, Coldiretti, say the Mafia is
increasing its grip on the nation’s food industry.
The
criminals are behind fraudulent labeling of olive oil as virgin, citrus exports
to North America and Italian wholesale produce markets and local supermarket
chains.
The
prosecutors and Coldioretti want new laws to help curb the Mafia.
A
report estimated the overall volume of business in what has been called the
"agri-Mafia" interests jumped by 30 percent in 2016, compared to 2015.
The
report, which was presented at Coldiretti's Rome headquarters to anti-Mafia
investigators, law enforcement ministers, lawmakers and police officials,
calculated the amount of business at 21.8 billion euros ($23 billion US),
stressing the estimate was likely low.
"The
most notorious clans of organized crime have divvied up the food business,
putting their hands on the products that are symbols of 'made in Italy,'"
Coldiretti said.
National
anti-Mafia Prosecutor Franco Roberti cited the crackdown earlier this year on
what he called "a colossal fraud" in olive oil exports, perpetrated
by the 'ndrangheta, the southern-Italy based crime organization that is
considered one of the world's most powerful syndicates.
Last
year the Canadian Food Inspection Agency identified fraudulent labeling of
virgin olive oil.
Investigators
alleged the Piromalli crime clan in Reggio Calabria was really packaging the
residue of olive oil production purchased from the Middle East.
There
have been previous reports of Mafia infiltration of the North American food
industry, including the A&P supermarket chain in the New York area in the
1960s, the mozzarella cheese business in Montreal and the meat-packing industry
in Montreal, Toronto and Burlington.
There
have been no successful prosecutions of the Mafia in Canada, partly because the
courts have not found proof that the Mafia exists here.
