DOPE $TORIES Episode 4: From War to War
- Lucky B$TRD
- May 10, 2022
- 6 min read
Part One
NO FACE NO CA$E - Dope Stories is back. A collection of articles on our society through the lens of the drug trade. After Berlin, Marseille and Barcelona, this time we're going to Italy. Titled From War to War, this 4th installment sheds light on how the migrant crisis has been fueling the drug trade to the profit of criminal groups.
Organized crime has demonstrated deceitful ingenuity when it comes to capitalize on the news and on-going crisis. Human trafficking is one of their most lucrative activities. Unlike drugs, the commodity here -human beings- is used (and abused) repeatedly, making it an infinite revenue stream. The never-ending flaw of migrants comes from all parts of Africa , Middle East and Asia through Lybia. They end up rescued in Italian waters or dead at sea. The “lucky” ones are then brought to the shores of small islands such as Lampedusa all the way up to the regions of Calabria and Puglia in the South of Italy.
Up to the 15 of March this year, 6,701 migrants disembarked in Italy. A staggering 66,770 people arrived in 2021. The first five countries of origin were Tunisia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Iran, and Ivory Coast[1].
Italy has repeatedly requested aid from the EU in managing refugees, but has been turned down, left completely alone in dealing with this growing crisis.
Most of asylum seekers, given their countries of origin, don’t qualify for the refugee status and many will remain illegal once on mainland Italy, entangled in an administrative web. The presence in those regions of some of the most powerful crime syndicates the world has ever known makes this human crisis an opportunity for pushing their products in less "controlled" area areas such as city centers where the risk of being apprehended by the authorities, and for some deported, is high - yet worth taking for many of them after the journey out of hell they had to undertake.
Like any commodity, illegal drugs are traded in a market where buyers and sellers need to locate each other to conduct a transaction. Two types of marketplace exist:
- Person-specific, using communication network (phone, social media…) to get information about vendors, locations and time.
- Place-specific, operating in geographically well-defined areas so buyers and sellers can locate themselves easily and proceed with the transaction.
We chose to focus here on place-specific retail markets, also called open-air drug markets. What does that entail? An easy access to anyone who looks like a potential client, buyers can weigh quality against price and sellers maximize customer access. The downside is that all “players” are vulnerable to police interventions.
Criminal groups, to minimize that risk, set up 2 sub-models operating in very different locations and fashions:
Let’s call the first model: “High control” open-air drug market. It is set in public housing or low income buildings on the outskirts of major cities.
The 2nd model is more of a “Free” open-air drug market. It takes places in city centers with train stations and parks as epicenter of the illicit trade
I “High control” open-air drug markets
In this scenario, the area, often low income buildings or public housing, is controlled by a criminal organization, making it “less risky” or more foreseeable when it comes to police interventions .
Exploiting the buildings intricate architecture and the usual one way in & out of those complexes, criminals make sure to occupy vantage points on roofs and roads and to own strategically positioned apartments (converted into stash houses or clandestine laboratories etc…). They are able to store, process, pack dispatch and distribute the product in a single place with little concern regarding the authorities. They have the sector under surveillance. At the first sign of a suspicious car or person and warnings spreads like wildfire. Nonetheless dealers make sure to carry little to no drugs on them (hiding them in nearby hollow pipes, staircases etc…). The unique layouts of those developments almost look like they were made to facilitate illegal activities… you won’t find any migrant working in those neighborhood but only locals, Italians. I could witness this type of operations in two cities: Naples and Rome
Napoli - Rione Traiano
Direction Naples, not Scampia but to the lesser known Rione Traiano. Although within the city limits, the closest train station is a 20-minute walk on deserted roads, over-paths, roundabouts, railroads and…a carabinieri station. After wandering through high-rises, we reached a low-rise area.
By then, my partners and I have been spotted, watched, checked by few kids roaming on scooters… in other words, we’ve been vetted and “let through”.
We ventured in a courtyard where we see another kid, 16 years old at the most, sat on some steps leading to a metal door. We looked at each other and he asked me if I needed anything. After exchanging a few words he shows me the reinforced door behind him.
Security cameras have been watching us all along, we approached and were buzzed-in before I even knock, we climbed down a few stairs, pass another see-through metal door and in a tiny room with a couch, a table and a couple of screens, sit a large pit-bull and two, nice but “not to fuck with”, fellas.
One guy is staring at the CCTV monitors covering the area and the other weighting and serving cocaine before you while giving you two options: to consume on premises or “da portare via” -to take out.
The atmosphere is chill, they’re joking, making small talks, no fear or paranoia, just a well-oiled operation. The complex structure of buildings makes it only harder for the police. The room where the dealing takes place had back exit doors, the courtyard, on the contrary, has a single entry and exit road making it easier for look outs with the higher ground to check who comes and goes, making sure there are no five-O. And it works, the operations have been going on for years, few hundred meters from a police station… The entire operation is run by locals, no migrants can be found.
Roma - G.R.A. uscita 17
A bit over 2 hours drive North of Naples, before we enter in Rome city limits, we find another notorious example of High control open air drug market. On the peripheral ring (Grand Raccordo Anulare) a.k.a. “Raccordo” -as they call it here, take the Exit 17 to Tor Bella Monaca (or “Tor Bella”), a development from the 80’s, made of low income and public housing.
Let me give you the lowdown: 15% of minors are under judicial orders, a third of the 28,000 inhabitants lives under poverty level, unemployment rate is 19% (twice the city average)[2]. Yet, the social chasm that has emerged here is essentially physical: the remote location, poorly connected to the inner city, enables not only a geographical, but also and most importantly a psychological and financial ostracism. The perfect breeding ground for organized crime.
“Don’t you worry, we’re all friends here…”
This is high control open drug market at its finest: One road in and out, a puzzled architecture with path and bridges in between building, outdoor staircases, 15-story towers, hidden courtyards and parks, abandoned urban layout…. The risk is well managed, the lack of fear from dealers is here to prove it. I literally passed by and witnessed a “blitz” (a police bust as the cops call it…), with carabinieri handcuffing in plain view over 5 people at the feet of one of the first towers[3]. Meanwhile, two blocks down the road, it was business as usual. Seeing the concern on my partner’s face, one of the dealers shout at us with a smile “Don’t you worry, we’re all friends here…”. It, indeed, re-assured us in some way...
Always a step ahead of the police, this business has been going on for decades. Here as well, the distribution is fully handled by Italians from the neighborhood, like in Traiano, you won’t find any migrants dealing here.
It’s a game of cat and mouse the police can’t win. They rather direct their resources and attention on another -easier- target: migrants working on the way riskier “free” open-air drug market in central areas of town.
Stay tuned for part two of Dope Stories #4: From War to War. We’ll be going to Genova, Torino, Bologna, Napoli (again) and Bari to witness a very different scenario.
references
Comentários