Posted on 11/15/2006 12:34:21 PM PST by joan
Published: Sunday, 12 November, 2006, 09:58 AM Doha Time
BERLIN: Italian organised crime is gaining a strong foothold in Germany and has invested proceeds of its illegal activities in energy companies listed in Frankfurt and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Citing a secret study by Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND), the Berliner Zeitung said the Calabrian mafia, known as the ‘Ndrangheta, was using Germany to invest cash from drugs and weapons smuggling.
The group had invested double-digit millions of its profits in German hotels, restaurants and real estate, especially in former communist eastern Germany and along the Baltic coast, the paper quoted the study as saying.
A BND spokesman said yesterday that the agency would probably not be able to comment on the newspaper report until tomorrow.
According to the BND study, two ‘Ndrangheta clans were especially entrenched in Germany and were smuggling weapons from Switzerland and Germany in close co-operation with Albanian mafia groups, the paper said.
As part of its money laundering activities, the ‘Ndrangheta had also bought up large packages of shares in companies listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange, particularly energy firms, the BND study said.
Some clans had also invested in shares in Gazprom, in which German gas market leader E.ON-Ruhrgas has a 6.4% stake. E.ON-Ruhrgas could not be reached for comment.
The BND study levelled sharp criticism at the Italian authorities, saying their efforts to tackle organised crime were inadequate, the Berliner Zeitung said.
On the one hand, laws introduced by the government of former prime minister Silvio Berlusoni had made fighting organised crime harder and on the other the ‘Ndrangheta had succeeded in infiltrating political and judicial bodies, the study said. – Reuters
Wonder if they are smuggling yet more weapons into the Balkans.
Achtung! Fugettenaboutenit.
The Italian Mafia may turn out to be the only countervailing force willing to stand up against the Islamofascists that seem determined to establish themselves as the Eurabian Caliphate.
The Mafia is primarily interested in doing business. The Islamofascists seem more concerned with establishing a complete hegemony over every aspect of life.
Didn't the Mafia have its origins as a way of resisting the Romans? The Saracens should understand that they are out of their league.
The Mafia will most likely collaborate with the Muslims in underground activities, as it can keep Muslim activities under the radar while the Mafia collects the proceeds from helping the muslims to lay low.
OK, so now that the Russian mob has moved into Montenegro (since its independence), the Italian & Alabanian mob is in Germany, and Islam is on the rise all over Europe, seems to me the landscape is going to get very interesting, very quickly. Who is going to win? The thugs (Islamist or mafia)? The Euro socialists? Or some new form of Euro thug? Glad I am in California!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.