Dia says this about it in the 2023 half-yearly report on Tuscany. ‘Foreign criminals do not disdain making alliances with us’
Organized crime is widely present in Tuscany and operates through drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering and waste trafficking for the Italian mafias, drugs, prostitution, predatory crimes and counterfeit goods for foreign clans.
This is reported in the Dia’s 2023 half-yearly report which highlights the operation of the Camorra and ‘Ndrangheta clans in Tuscany, much more than the Sicilian cliques, which are less rooted in Tuscany. Instead, foreign crime is represented in particular by Albanians, Romanians, Chinese, Maghrebians and North Africans in general, who make use of people in need or who are irregular in Italy as laborers.
The foreign gangs, especially Albanians, who have a leadership in international drug trafficking, “do not disdain forming criminal alliances – writes Dia – with exponents of Italian associations”. The Camorra in Tuscany is dedicated to extortion – both against individuals from Campania and Tuscany -, trafficking and illicit disposal of waste, drug trafficking and dealing, money laundering in real estate or business activities, especially in the tourism-hotel sector. In recent times, the Camorra appears to be predominantly interested in drugs and extortion in Tuscany, starting from the capital Florence.
According to the Dia, there is a strong presence of individuals linked to the Camorra who have settled in a large part of Tuscany, in Valdarno Superiore, Valdinievole, Maremma, Versilia. “No province – highlights the Dia – can be considered excluded at least from the stable presence of subjects connected to clans active in Campania”.
The Calabrian ‘ndrangheta continues to show itself in the territory of Tuscany in extortion, drugs, illicit waste disposal and tax fraud. Among the foreign gangs, the Albanian ones have “a high level of danger and a strong incidence in illegal activities, with particular reference to drug trafficking”, “coteries supported by a strong solidarity component, often strengthened by kinship ties”. The port of Livorno is their hub for unloading large loads of drugs.
The Maghrebi and Nigerian clans, mainly involved in drugs, are found in almost all the provinces; they also engage in exploitation of prostitution and counterfeit goods. Other ethnic groups with criminal groups are Romanian and Chinese. The latter has a primary role in many activities, especially in the textile-clothing-fashion district of Florence-Prato-Pistoia, dealing with counterfeit goods or goods that do not comply with EU standards, tax and INPS evasion, aiding and abetting illegal immigration and exploitation of labor irregular, extortion and predatory crimes against fellow countrymen.
