Prosecutors in the Sicilian capital of Palermo are warning that a new alliance between the mafia and Nigerian criminal gangs moving in from Libya could herald a new era of organised crime.
“Even the Sicilian mafia has to deal with the wave of migration from Africa,” said Leonardo Agueci, Palermo’s deputy chief prosecutor. “The neighbourhoods under mafia control have changed profoundly in recent years due to the growing presence of foreigners, especially Nigerians coming on boats. Among them, there [are a small number] of people who want to transfer their illegal trafficking, linked to prostitution and drug dealing, to Sicily. And the mafia was quite happy to integrate them into their criminal business.”
The picture below show a young man named Emmanuel, a 25 year-old Nigerian living in Palermo, claims his face was scarred with a machete by members of the Black Axe clan
In the state court of Palermo a trial against an alleged Nigerian gangster, Austin Ewosa, 32, is under way. His street name is John Bull and he was arrested in September 2014, in a local bar in Ballarò. He stands accused of assault, intimidation, criminal association and attempted murder, charges that could see him jailed for 10 years.
The risk of Nigerian criminals operating in Europe was revealed in a letter sent to the Italian prosecutors from the Nigerian ambassador to Rome in 2011.
“I would like to draw your attention to the new criminal activity of a group of Nigerians belonging to secret societies, forbidden by the government because of violent acts,” wrote the diplomat.
“Unfortunately, former members of these sects were able to get into Italy where they re-established their criminal organisations.”
According to the prosecutors, some of the Black Axe members, including Ewosa, and also his victims, arrived in Sicily by boat. Most of them were temporarily hosted in the immigration camp at Caltanissetta, in the centre of the island.
0 comments:
Post a Comment