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FEATUREThursday 19 November 2015
Needing ‘Clean Cash,’ Mobsters Hungry for Rome’s Eateries
FRANCES D’EMILIO He’s looking forward to his laundered. In one case, Prestipino, the anti-Mafia usually moved through sev-
Associated Press day in a court so he can prosecutors alleged that prosecutor, told The AP in
ROME (AP) — Gianfranco ask prosecutors: “Why do a convent turned into a his Rome office. eral often sophisticated fi-
Romeo sits at a table at his you say I’m a figurehead hotel was acquired by the And Rome offers the right
trattoria off the Pantheon, when I paid with my own ‘ndrangheta just in time for ingredients for mobsters, nancial channels, to make
casting scorn over the idea money?” the 2000 Holy Year — when being hundreds of kilo-
that he’s a frontman for a Prosecutors are confident millions of devout pilgrims meters (miles) from their it harder for investigators to
feared mafia clan. they’ll have the right an- poured into Rome. centuries-old power bases.
“I always had a passion for swer. “We can seize 10 busi- “It’s a place where even keep up with the money
restaurant work, I began as Along Rome’s narrow Via nesses a day,” said anti- conspicuous wealth blends
a dishwasher,” Romeo told dei Pastini, a street throng- Mafia prosecutor Michele in with other wealth,” said trail. To sniff out possible
The Associated Press at Il ing with tourists in search of Prestipino. “And they can Prestipino.
Barroccio, as pizza-makers quaint restaurants, authori- buy up 10 more in a day.” Restaurants and hotels front men, accountants
prepared to fire up the ties raided three trattorias, What’s more, the restau- in Milan, Turin and other
northern cities, including and other financial ex-
in the prosperous regions
of Veneto and Emilia Ro- perts who work for a spe-
magna, are also becom-
ing ‘ndrangheta proper- cial anti-organized crime
ties, according to Prestipi-
no, who used to fight the unit of Italy’s tax police sift
‘ndrangheta on its home
turf in impoverished Ca- through property sale and
labria, the toe of Italy’s
boot. lease records, comparing
Alfonso Sabella, a former Si-
cilian magistrate who bat- the profession and income
tled Cosa Nostra, has urged
Rome to create a mecha- declared on tax returns.
nism to help spot anoma-
lies like frequent ownership That technique led to what
changes. Sabella recently
served as Rome’s first “le- so far has been the most
gality commissioner” to
help City Hall root out cor- high-profile anti-laundering
ruption and discourage in-
filtration by mobsters in the seizure — the 2009 seques-
capital’s economic fabric.
The lobby group for ter of Cafe de Paris, a Via
Rome’s 15,000 restaurants
is alarmed by organized Veneto hangout made fa-
crime infiltration, saying
that mobsters — unlike hon- mous in “La Dolce Vita,”
est restaurateurs — have
nearly unlimited funds to Federico Fellini’s classic
make establishments suc-
cessful as eateries, not just film. The owner on proper-
fronts for organized crime.
“There are locales seized ty deeds was a modestly-
in the past years that were
flourishing,” Fabio Spada, earning barber from a tiny
president of the FIPE Con-
fcommercio Roma lobby, hamlet in the Aspromonte
told AP. “They raked in a lot,
independent of their voca- mountains of Calabria, an
tion as money-launderers.”
Indeed, in recent years, or- ‘ndrangheta stronghold.
ganized crime has been in-
creasingly aiming to “make Fanning out from that
clean money from dirty
money” by investing illicit probe, investigators
revenues into legitimate
sectors of the economy, checked out friends, and
said Lt. Col. Gerardo Mas-
trodomenico of the orga- friends of friends — anyone
nized-crime squad of Italy’s
tax police. who had any connections
The first two Via dei Pas-
tini trattorias — La Rotonda with those thought to be
and Er Faciolaro — were
seized in March. Il Barroccio really running the Cafe de
was seized in July.
Money for laundering is Paris. One man who caught
People walk by the Barroccio restaurant in Via dei Pastini, in Rome. Along Rome’s narrow Via investigators’ attention was
dei Pastini, a street thronging with tourists in search of quaint restaurants, three trattorias, includ-
ing Il Barroccio, were raided this year as alleged fronts for money-laundering operations for the a Calabrian-born Rome
`ndrangheta.
businessman, Salvatore
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Lania. Intercepted phone
calls indicated that he has
links to suspected members
oven and shovel in the pies including Il Barroccio, this rants don’t suffer any hit to of a powerful ‘ndrangheta
for the evening crowd of year as alleged fronts for
tourists. money-laundering opera- their business from the ma- clan, said Carabinieri Col.
Romeo is among several tions for the ‘ndrangheta.
people under investigation Authorities say the finan- fia taint, since most tourists Renato Chicoli, with a spe-
for suspected false prop- cially savvy ‘ndrangheta
erty registration in one of a is hungry for legitimate- are blissfully unaware of the cial anti-Mafia investigative
growing number of investi- businesses to launder the
gations in which mobsters billions it rakes in from co- probes. unit in Rome.
are suspected of system- caine trafficking. Elsewhere
atically buying up Roman in Rome, the Naples-based Romeo recounted how po- When police started look-
tourist restaurants to laun- Camorra is allegedly fol-
der cocaine profits, alleg- lowing a similar recipe, lice roused him from sleep ing into Lania’s back-
edly installing people like prosecutors say.
Romeo as figurehead own- The restaurants and cafes the morning two Via dei ground, they found that
ers. Romeo contended bit- targeted in the probes still
terly that investigators were operate. Many are near Pastini restaurants were his income tax returns de-
targeting him and oth- landmarks such as Trevi
ers merely because they Fountain and Piazza Navo- seized. Two days later, the clared “almost nothing,”
are natives of Calabria, na. As chefs dish out pasta
the southern region that is and waiters pour wine, doors reopened, and tour- Chicoli said in an interview.
home to the ‘ndrangheta, anti-Mafia investigators —
one of the most feared huddled in their offices — ists flocked back. So how, investigators won-
global crime syndicates. scrutinize tax returns and
In seizing restaurants from property deeds and leases. That, however, hasn’t been dered, could this man sud-
hard-working people like Beyond mob-owned res-
himself, he said, authorities taurants, tourists also stand the case with the lawmak- denly start snapping up
are essentially alleging that a good chance of sleep-
all Calabrians in Rome are ing in hotels where more ers at parliament, a short restaurants, and even a
crooks. than sheets are being
walk away from Il Barroc- building, along pricey Via
cio. dei Pastini?
“The politicians used to Lania, 47, is being investi-
come here,” said Romeo, gated for false registration
his face glum. “Now they of property ownership. But
say they can’t come any he isn’t suspected of be-
more.” longing to the ‘ndranghe-
While a few lawmakers ta, said Chicoli. According
might be avoiding the trat- to court documents filed in
toria, Rome’s status as the connection with the first Via
Italian political and admin- dei Pastini seizures, none of
istrative capital is an add- those under probe are sus-
ed attraction for the mob. pected of actually being
“You make connections, an organized crime mem-
important friendships,” ber. q
