Pistachio, mango or “Sicilian flavors”? In a famous ice cream parlor of Palermo, tourists choose their favorite aroma without knowing that the prosperous trade was until recently under the mafia control of Cosa Nostra.
The affair of the ice cream parlors in Palermo, capital of the Italian island of Sicily, is a textbook case for Italians accustomed to detecting dirty money injected into the real economy.
A timely bankruptcy, a front man and a godfather versed in tricks. Mafia engineering seems elementary here, but the investigators needed a lot of patience to put an end to it.
At the end of the 2010s, Brioscia prosper. Locals and foreigners flock to these ice cream parlors, seduced by the good reviews on the websites.
In charge of the two stores is Mario Mancuso, a jovial businessman who seems to be beyond suspicion.
But in the shadows is Michele Micalizzi, head of the Cosa Nostra criminal organization, repeatedly sent to prison for mafia association.
Mancuso takes care of the ice cream while Micalizzi manages the rest and offers the merchant, in exchange for a portion of the income, his protection against extortion attempts by other groups.
But the “Srl (limited liability company)” is in the name of Mancuso’s wife, whom the businessman is divorcing.
Fearing losing control, they organize the bankruptcy of Brioscià in 2021, citing the consequences of confinement during the covid-19 pandemic.
The business goes bankrupt with a hole of four million euros. “It was a successful company, well known in Palermo. The bankruptcy was, therefore, unjustified,” explains a judicial source to AFP.
When an investigation is opened, it is discovered that the two partners dream big and aspire to sell ice cream abroad.
They reconstitute a limited liability company. The stores are reborn under the Sharbat brand. And apparently, everything remains the same.
“I’m not even sure if the employees knew who they worked for,” confided a man in a neighboring store, on condition of anonymity.
The profits are used to support the businessman, the godfather and their imprisoned relatives (food, legal fees, etc.).
On August 12, the magistrates and police consider that they have sufficient evidence to intervene. Mancuso, Micalizzi and four other accomplices are arrested, and 1.5 million euros are seized.
On September 24, the two stores are placed under the control of a judicial administrator pending the outcome of the procedure.
Mancuso and Micalizzi are charged with conspiracy, extortion and fraudulent bankruptcy.
The Italian Central Bank estimates the annual turnover of mafias in Italy at 40 billion euros, that is, 2% of national wealth.
Although organized crime has not renounced its historical main business – the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, for example, reigns in cocaine trafficking in Europe -, “it is also making direct investments in the legal economy”, analyzes Rocco Sciarrone, professor at the University of Turin.
Construction (31.2%), commerce (16.7%), real estate (10.4%) and manufacturing (9.9%) alone represent more than two-thirds of mafia infiltration, according to the report published in 2022 by economist Antonio Parbonetti.
Favorite sectors vary considerably from region to region. In Sicily, “the socioeconomic fabric is made up of small family businesses that adapt very well to whitening,” explains Eliseo Davi, from the University of Palermo.
According to the Parbonetti report, one in two companies controlled by the mafia is a “star” company, which generates good income and employs people, and therefore benefits from a broad social, economic and political consensus.
In the case of the Palermo ice cream parlors, the mafia team never received the necessary authorizations for one of its two stores.
Was there collusion with management or incompetence? Palermo deputies begin to demand responsibilities.
Source: Ambito
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