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MAFIA

Rome knocks down flashy mafia villas

Police on Wednesday began bulldozing eight villas built illegally in a suburb of Rome by an alleged mafia clan renowned for its violence and gaudy lifestyle, as those evicted cried foul.

Published: 21 November 2018 17:05 CET
Rome knocks down flashy mafia villas
Police supervise the demolition of the Casamonica clan's villas. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

As the walls toppled there were shouts of fury from members of the Casamonica, which has ethnic Sinti roots and reportedly runs drugs, fraud and extortion rings in Rome.

“Today the demolition has begun of the first two villas,” said Mayor Virginia Raggi, as police removed the last bits of furniture from the opulent houses, decorated with gold-plated animal statues, chandeliers and imitation frescoes.

“All eight villas will be knocked down. We will not stop until we have returned this territory to the citizens of Rome,” she said.

A velvet throne and animal statues discovered inside one of the villas. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The illegal villas in the Quadraro neighbourhood incorporated whole sections of the historic Acqua Felice Aqueduct.

Over 600 police officers evicted around 30 people from the villas in a dawn raid on Tuesday in a coup for Raggi, who has been repeatedly blamed for Rome's degradation.

'King of Rome'

Mothers carrying young children on Wednesday asked to be allowed back into their homes to get basic necessities like food and medicines, according to an AFP video journalist.

Some residents sat on the ground with their heads in their hands as the bulldozers got to work, while others shouted that they were being persecuted like the Jews under Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Bulldozers moved in to flatten the villas. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The Casamonica clan was one of the alleged crime networks accused of infiltrating the city's government and influencing politicians in a large-scale corruption investigation in 2015.

The clan hit the headlines the same year for the showy send-off laid on in the capital for boss Vittorio Casamonica, whose coffin was drawn through the streets of Rome in a gilded horse-drawn carriage as roses petals were dropped from a helicopter. Posters outside the church in the east of the city declared him the “King of Rome”, while mourners were greeted with music from the film The Godfather.

READ ALSO: Outcry as mafia boss given lavish send-off

The demolitions were hailed by Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, whose hard-right League is vehemently anti-immigrant and who has courted controversy with his plans to carry out a census of Italy's Roma population.

“I'm not going to stop until we've knocked down every last villa belonging to these damn people,” he said.


Officers search a nursery in one of the villas. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Those evicted claimed they had been given no warning and had nowhere to take their children. A lawyer for the Casamonicas told Italian media he would be challenging the demolition order.

Footage of Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte touring one of the seized villas — complete with golden pillars and throne — prompted ire from the opposition, who called on him Wednesday to get back to running the country. 

READ ALSO: 

By AFP's Giovanni Grezzi and Ella Ide

PROTESTS

Thousands protest in Rome against fascist groups after green pass riots

An estimated 200,000 people descended on Rome on Saturday to call for a ban on fascist-inspired groups, after protests over Italy's health pass system last weekend degenerated into riots.

Published: 16 October 2021 19:20 CEST
A general view shows people attending an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome
People attend an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Carrying placards reading “Fascism: Never Again”, the protesters in Piazza San Giovanni — a square historically associated with the left — called for a ban on openly neofascist group Forza Nuova (FN).

FN leaders were among those arrested after the Rome headquarters of the CGIL trade union — Italy’s oldest — was stormed on October 9th during clashes outside parliament and in the historic centre.

Analysis: What’s behind Italy’s anti-vax protests and neo-fascist violence?

A man holds a placard reading "yes to the vaccine" during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome

A man holds a placard reading “yes to the vaccine” during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“This is not just a retort to fascist ‘squadrismo’,” CGIL secretary general Maurizio Landini said, using a word used to refer to the fascist militias that began operating after World War I.

IN PICTURES: Demonstrators and far right clash with police in Rome after green pass protest

“This piazza also represents all those in Italy who want to change the country, who want to close the door on political violence,” he told the gathered crowds.

Last weekend’s riots followed a peaceful protest against the extension to all workplaces of Italy’s “Green Pass”, which shows proof of vaccination, a negative Covid-19 test or recent recovery from the virus.

The violence has focused attention on the country’s fascist legacy.

Saturday’s demonstration was attended by some 200,000 people, said organisers, with 800 coaches and 10 trains laid on to bring people to the capital for the event.

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

It coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Nazi raid on the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.

Over 1,000 Jews, including 200 children, were rounded up at dawn on October 16th, 1943, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on during the anti-fascist rally in Rome. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“Neofascist groups have to be shut down, right now. But that has to be just the start: we need an antifascist education in schools,” university student Margherita Sardi told AFP.

READ ALSO: Covid green pass: How are people in Italy reacting to the new law for workplaces?

The centre-left Democratic Party, which has led the calls for FN to be banned, said its petition calling on parliament to do so had gathered 100,000 signatures.

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