Ecomafia 2022: in 2021 fewer crimes, more arrests

In Italy in 2021 eco-mafias continue to sink their roots into the environment, driven by transversal interests in which environmental, economic and organized crime are increasingly intertwined in a perfect triangle. The result is a direct attack, naked and raw, thanks also to a greater push than the corruption and of the administrative offences. The new report takes stock of data and stories Ecomafia 2022 (here the .pdf), realized by Legambiente with the support of Novamont and published by Environment Editions.

In 2021, crimes against the environment will not fall below the wall of 30,000 offenses (ascertained 30,590), recording an average of almost 84 crimes a day, about 3.5 every hour. A worrying figure that continues to remain high, despite the slight decrease of -12.3% compared to the 2020 data, while arrests are growing, reaching 368+11.9% compared to 2020. They are 59,268 administrative offenses contested, with an average of 162 per day, 6.7 per hour. Added to environmental crimes, they tell of a country where about 10 violations of environmental protection regulations are ascertained every hour. To facilitate this wave of crimes the instrument of corruption: 115 investigations surveyed from 16 September 2021 to 31 July 2022, with 664 people arrested, 709 people reported and 199 kidnappings. 14 municipalities dissolved for mafia in 2021 and 7 in 2022, to which the last ones in order of arrival, Anzio and Nettuno (RM) must be added. Data that translate on the one hand into unsustainable wounds for the environment, the protection of which since last February 22 has become one of the fundamental principles of the Italian Constitution, and on the other into a golden loot for the eco-mafiosi who in 2021 invoiced 8.8 billion euros.

Campania, Puglia, Calabria And Sicily these are the four regions with a traditional mafia presence that suffer the greatest impact of eco-crime and corruption, observes Legambiente, explaining that 43.8% of the crimes ascertained by the police and the port authorities are concentrated in these territories, 33.2% % of administrative offenses and 51.3% of environmental corruption investigations out of the national total. Among the regions of the North the Lombardy the one with the highest number of environmental offenses is confirmed (1,821 crimes, equal to 6% of the national total and 33 arrests). Confirmed crimes are growing Liguria1,228, which climbs five positions, reaching ninth place.

At the provincial level, Romewith 1,196 environmental offences, fell from first position in 2021 Naples (1.058), which is also exceeded by that of Cosenza (1.060). Last year, the police enforced crimes against the environment 878 times (Law 68/2015). 292 assets were seized for a total value of over 227 million euros.

The most contested crime of all is that of environmental pollutionwith 445 criminal proceedings, but the highest number of pre-trial detention orders was triggered for the organized activity of illicit waste trafficking, with 497 orders.