Mafia pervasive in Canada: Nicaso

By Angelo Persichilli / The Hill Times

Organized crime is pervasive in Canadian society and it's time politicians, legislators and media accept the fact, says Antonio Nicaso, author of the latest, sensational book on the Mafia in Canada which is being hailed as "in a class of its own, one of the absolute best."
Mr. Nicaso, co-author of Bloodlines: The Rise and Fall of the Mafia's Royal Family (Harper Collins), and a co-editor of Toronto's Italian language daily Corriere Canadese, who wrote the book along with Lee Lamothe, told The Hill Times last week that there are three simple, powerful messages in the book. He said organized crime is trying, and in some cases, very successfully, to infiltrate the political system all over the world. Secondly, and of more concern to us, Canada is not excluded from these activities, and thirdly, in order to solve this problem it's important for politicians, legislators, media and the Canadian society in general to accept the notion that organized crime is a problem in Canada as well.
"If a Mafioso comes to Canada to invest his money it's because this country offers him better conditions than other places," said Mr. Nicaso. "Mafiosi never had a sense of citizenship, only opportunism. And if they manage to elude investigations and get rich that's because they are supported by a host of middlemen, bankers, accountants, lawyers, stock brokers, corrupted police officers, unscrupulous and conniving politicians: they are the Mafia's strength."
Unfortunately, organized crime, especially in North America, continues to be seen as something connected to immigration, because few can correctly judge the degree of reception of this phenomenon.
"According to several reports, virtually every major criminal group in the world is active in this country. And in many cities, they work cooperatively, across language barriers. Their motive is profit, their currency is cash and their citizenship is global," said Mr. Nicaso.
The book is being applauded by book critics and crime journalists. The Globe and Mail's Tim Appleby, a former long-time crime reporter, said in his review: "Lee Lamothe and Antonio Nicaso have done a public service that will not easily be duplicated. Dozens of books have been written about the mob in Canada, but Bloodlines is in a class of its own, one of the absolute best. The reason is evident. In-depth crime reporting depends on credibility, trust and access to police secrets. And because of their expertise and track recordS the authors were privy to the innermost machinations of the massive Caruana investigation, notably the wiretap evidence."
In his book, Mr. Nicaso describes how this phenomenon is often misunderstood because there is a tendency to reduce the Mafia to a purely criminal matter.
"On the contrary," he said, "it should be examined from the points of view of economy, sociology, history, culture and even anthropology. The very image of the Mafia should be updated."
Mr. Nicaso said "in the U.S.A., for instance, nobody connected the Kennedy's to liquor-smuggling during the prohibition.
Yet Joseph Kennedy was the partner of Joseph Bonanno, a one-time leader of a major New York City crime family. And when John Fitzgerald Kennedy ran for the White House, his father did nothesitate to contact his old friends."
After presenting a map of the most important criminal organizations - it is believed that more than 150  mobs are operating in Russia, and they, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, control between 35,000 and 40,000 companies, and 400 banks - Mr. Nicaso said it is time for a completely different attitude toward how organized crime operates.
"The so-called 'white collars' of Mafia keep growing rich and powerful, ignored or willfully left alone," said Mr. Nicaso, "by cops and 'experts' who prefer to toy with Hollywood's fictional boss
icons, which do not represent reality, nor help in perceiving it."
Said Mr. Nicaso: "There's a Mafia that doesn't necessarily love violence, represented by people whose voices aren't harsh and who use corruption to keep friends and enemies at bay. But that's a
Mafia that doesn't show well in the movies, speaks an accent-free English and doesn't patronize the bars in Little Italy, but rather the power centres gravitating around politicians, stock exchanges and
financial institutions."
And the story of the Cuntrera-Caruana, a family often touted as the richest and most powerful Mafia family in history, as detailed in Bloodlines, is proof. This powerful "family" in the last 30 years
has been able to buy favours from high-ranking politicians in many countries.
The lengthy list of politicians that, according to Bloodlines, the Cuntrera-Caruana family corrupted or tried to do so, is a proof of how the so-called white-collar Mafia, the one that is hardly seen, is much more dangerous of the one represented by the Tony Sopranos of the world.
So is it possible to stop this activity? And is it possible to defeat Mafia?
Mr. Nicaso said some things can be done. He proposed a series of initiatives like the seizure and confiscation of the assets accumulated by the criminals, the fight against money laundering, and
the use of confiscated assets for social purposes, as a start. In particular, stressed Mr. Nicaso, the third level of action "is related to use of the assets confiscated from the criminal
organization. The seizure and definitive confiscation of the wealth accumulated by organized crime is necessary to undermine its economic power. But it is equally important to use the confiscated wealth for social purposes, building schools, libraries, parks, social centres and government agencies."
However, the main message from the book is a simple one: the first step to solve a problem is to accept the fact that the problem is there, and then convince themselves that the fight can be won.
"Bloodlines is the story of how an untouchable criminal organization was dismantled. It was not destroyed; it may have been slowed down a little by a jailing of a generation of half a Mafia
family," said Mr. Nicaso. "It was not done with a massive budget or special powers. It was done by men and women chipping at a rock with laws that are not sharp enough and by funds that materialized
seemingly by accident. It was done by people who have vision and believe that they can make the difference."