«It is urgent to clarify organized crime offences, soon a dl»- Corriere.it

“A murder committed with the help of of mafia methods or committed in order to facilitate a criminal association would not be a crime of organized crimeaccording to the Supreme Court”. The prime minister says so Giorgia Meloni speaking in the Council of Ministers, in reference to a sentence of the Court. “It appears evident how this decision lends itself to producing disruptive effects on ongoing trials for very serious crimes”.

Hence the government’s decision of a provision of authentic interpretation, “The intention, in agreement with the Minister of Justice, is to include this provision in a decree law soon to be approved”.

“Our criminal justice system – Meloni recalled – provides for a distinction between organized crime offenses and other offences. A more extensive and incisive use of investigative tools is permitted for organized crime offences, given the difficulty of tracing evidence. Greater rigor is also envisaged in the granting of prison benefits, given their dangerousness and social pervasiveness. If until recently the interpretation of the concept of organized crime was clear, this recent sentence of the Court of Cassation (n. 34895 of 2022) has seriously questioned it. The Court of Cassation has in fact stated – I quote verbatim – that only common and non-common criminal cases of association can “be included within the notion of crimes of ‘organised crime'”, with the consequence that crimes in themselves not associations, such as a murder, “insofar as committed making use of the conditions set out in article 416-bis of the criminal code or in order to facilitate the activity of the associations set out in the aforementioned article”, continues the premier.

«The ruling concerns the regime of environmental interceptions, but affirms principles of a general nature. And such principles lend themselves to causing very heavy repercussions for our system and for public safety. Leaving aside any consideration of merit, aIt seems evident that this decision lends itself to producing disruptive effects on ongoing trials for very serious crimes. In fact, by adopting this orientation, for the crimes already committed, all the probative material acquired on the basis of the previous interpretation, which allowed the use of the tools envisaged for the fight against organized crime even in the absence of the contestation of the crime of association, would be lost. Thus, they risk going unpunished for a supposed procedural flaw for crimes of the utmost gravity. Warning manifestations in this sense are already starting to arrive from some courts”.

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