Would anyone be surprised if this was happening all over, at least in terms of organized criminal syndicates?
(Washington Post) Â Inside a midnight-blue BMW, a Sicilian entrepreneur delivered his pitch to the accused mafia boss. A new business was blowing into Italy that could spin wind and sunlight into gold, ensuring the future of the Earth as well as the Cosa Nostra: renewable energy.
“Uncle Vincenzo,†implored the businessman, Angelo Salvatore, using a term of affection for the alleged head of Sicily’s Gimbellina crime family, 79-year-old Vincenzo Funari. According to a transcript of their wiretapped conversation, Salvatore continued, “for the love of our sons, renewable energy is important. . . . it’s a business we can live on.â€
And for quite awhile, Italian prosecutors say, they did. In an unfolding plot that is part “The Sopranos,†part “An Inconvenient Truth,†authorities swept across Sicily last month in the latest wave of sting operations revealing years of deep infiltration into the renewable energy sector by Italy’s rapidly modernizing crime families.
Shockingly, much of this revolves around the massive taxpayer funded subsidies readily available and ripe for fraud. And a good way for organized crime to launder their money, BTW.
