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"Politics failed to create Greater Albania, crime did", Saviano: How the Albanian mafia and autonomy evolved in London

2024-02-04 20:24:47Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"Politics failed to create Greater Albania, crime did", Saviano: How
Roberto Saviano

The Italian journalist Roberto Saviano described the Albanian and Italian criminal groups as united in one. In the podcast 'Public Square', with former minister Ditmir Bushati, Saviano said that the place where Albanian criminality is stronger than anywhere else is London. According to the journalist of the book "Gomorrah", the United Kingdom is the country of choice for Albanian criminal groups and there Albanian crime operates in complete autonomy.

"I feel like saying that the place where Albanian criminality is stronger than anywhere else is London. The United Kingdom is the country of choice for Albanian criminal groups and there Albanian crime operates in complete autonomy. What surprises me every time I deal with the Albanian world, which I love very much, or even when I go to Albania, is to hear that the Albanian mafia is talked about much more abroad than in Albania. Much more abroad than in Kosovo. Because of all this, organized Kosovar and Albanian crime as well as Albanian-Macedonian crime is very strong. Greater Albania was not achieved in politics, but was achieved through crime. All these elements, unfortunately, are little mentioned. It is enough to see the publications on the Albanian mafia. They are very few," said Saviano.

"It should be remembered that, for example, one of the most famous Albanian groups, talked about in the media, and which I believe is now in a big crisis, 'Kompania Bello', at the same time one of the most powerful criminal groups in the past years, had its operational center in Ecuador. It had its own operational center in Ecuador, precisely to organize cocaine traffic with the United Kingdom ," said Saviano.

The Italian journalist has also declared about the connection between the Italian and Albanian mafia.

"The relationship between the Albanian mafia and the Italian mafia is like a single fist. They are almost the same thing. We say ready, since, for example, in the United Kingdom, Albanian organized crime operates in complete autonomy. But in the USA, the Albanian mafia has completely become part of the Italian cartels" , he continued.

He also spoke about the beginning of the membership of Albanians in Italian criminal organizations.

"Until the 90s and maybe even further, I would say until 2000, it was impossible to join 'Cosa Nostra America' without having Italian blood from both parents. Then, mobsters or men of word began to join, and for the "code of honor" they even die even if they have an Italian mother. Then they started to become members even having only an Italian father and now they also accept Albanians in the organization", he said.

Saviano has also shown the evolution of the Albanian mafia.

"The evolution of the Albanian mafia owes a lot to the arms trade, which, for example, has not had much of an impact on the self-image of Albanians, the prostitution trade, home burglaries, and the distribution of narcotics on the streets. All the things that Albanian organizations no longer do. Yes, they continue to do some kind of prostitution activity, but increasingly by delegating it, they now receive money from others who organize it. "Thefts at home are zero," he said.

"Albanian organizations sell weapons. In Italy, there are data published some time ago that show that the entire traffic of illegal weapons is Albania-Italy" , he said, among other things.

Saviano spoke about important issues related to his concept of freedom, of which he has been deprived for 18 years, after the denunciations of the relations between the Albanian and Italian mafias.

"I understood what freedom is by losing it. I lost my freedom at the age of 26 when I wrote 'Gomorrah' and today I am 44 and still under protection. If I were to go back, I wouldn't do it ," said Saviano.

Roberto Saviano has been quite critical of the cooperation protocol between the two governments for refugees and thinks that this contradicts human freedoms and rights and not only that. He listed some problems, starting with the jurisdictional ones, but he also stopped at the lessons that Albania has the opportunity to learn from Italy at this point.

"So, Italian jurisdiction would extend to an extra-European territory, simply through the handshake between Prime Minister Rama and Prime Minister Meloni. This means that in those centers the Albanian laws will not be applied, but the Italian ones. This agreement also presents other problems in relation to the selection of refugees who will be brought to Albania, who and how guarantees their right to international protection and, finally, how will we protect ourselves from criminal organizations?" said the journalist.

"Albania must say goodbye to silence, i.e. the fear of speaking. So, the Albanian institutions are afraid that they can aggravate this prejudice, worsen the situation of immigrants by talking about crime. It is the opposite. Prejudice is fought," he added.

At a time when technological development has strongly highlighted the competition for clicks, or when the alternative truth is sitting cross-legged among us, Saviano and Bushati discuss the concept of the "mud machine" and how it harms the individual even when it comes to causes important public interest but which affects and damages above all democracy.

"Mud machine and delegitimization today is the first tool to attack individuals. It is used by the mafia, regimes, but also ordinary companies, normal parties in democracy, newspapers. And often people become a tool, a tool of the mud machine, without knowing it. They spread false information against a person, not letting an individual breathe, for no reason," says Saviano.

 


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