Since 2012, the Italian judiciary has been systematically investigating the families of the leading figures of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta mafia and trying to send their children to foster families, or find them a safe haven with their mother if she decides to leave their father.
“They teach eight-year-olds to shoot. At the age of eight, they sell crack,” Chiara Colosimová, chairwoman of the Italian Parliamentary Committee for the Fight against Organized Crime, described the conditions in mafia families.
After 26 years in solitary confinement, an important boss of the Neapolitan mafia began to testify
Foreign
According to judge Roberto Di Bella, about 150 children managed to find a new home in the so far program called Liberi di Scegliere (Freedom of Choice), of which in 30 cases their mothers left their original families with them.
“It is a historic moment in the fight against the mafia,” commented Justice Minister Carlo Nordio on the extension of the current practice to members of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra organization and the Neapolitan Camorra.
In addition to breaking the family line of the mobsters, Judge Di Bella hopes that the program will also bring other mobsters to the side of the law. According to him, some members of the ‘Ndrangheta started testifying against their cronies after their children got to a safe place.
“A parent is ready to sacrifice his life for his son. For my children and my wife, I decided to change my life,” AFP quoted from a letter addressed to Di Bello by one of the former mobsters.
Death after thirty years on the run. Cancer finally got the head of the Sicilian mafia
Europe
Tags: Italy children mafias Sicily Naples prevent falling crime
