There was a time when any forward looking mobster was dealing in wind energy production credits and carbon trading but now it seems they are back to the old standbys, prostitution, extortion and drugs.*
Italy’s “Wind King”, or the “Lord of the Wind” Vito Nicastri has been sentenced to nine years in prison for channeling profits from his wind power business to Cosa Nostra’s Matteo Messina Denaro.
The Guardian reports that Nicastri was stripped of his companies and property back in 2013 during an investigation into his ties with the Sicilian mafia. The assets that prosecutors seized were worth about $1.7 billion (1.3 billion euro).I'm not sure where on the ESG spectrum this venture would land.
Since then, the prosecution has established that Nicastri had “close ties to Matteo Messina Denaro” and other “high-level” contacts in the Sicilian mafia. The wind power investor was accused of using criminal money to invest in his enterprises and playing the middleman between mafia bosses and local politicians by paying bribes to get permits for the manufacturing and delivery of wind turbines. These turbines were delivered abroad to countries including Malta, Denmark, and Spain, and the profits made from these sales were channelled back into the Cosa Nostra and to Matteo Messina Denaro personally.
Denaro, who has been referred to by the media as the last Mohican of the old mafia, is living in hiding and has done so since the early 90s. According to the Palermo prosecutors, Vito Nicastri has been one of his main financial donors.
Initially, the prosecution asked for a 12-year sentence for Nicastri but the court ruled in favour of a shorter sentence.
Before his downfall, Nicastri operated as many as 43 wind and solar energy companies and had 98 properties. At the time of his arrest and asset seizure, in 2013, the BBC quoted the head of the Palermo-based anti-mafia agency, Arturo de Felice, as saying "This [wind energy] is a sector in which money can easily be laundered."...MORE
*Previously:
October 2007
Mafia crime is 7% of GDP in Italy, group reports
I am unsure whether these gentlemen participate in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme.
The easy joke, of course, is that they set it up.
May 2009
Mafia link to Sicily wind farms probed
September 2010
"Mafia cash in on lucrative EU wind farm handouts - especially in Sicily"
September 2010
Police in Italy Seize Mafia-linked assets worth $1.9 billion "Mob was Going Green"
April 2013
Renewables: Police Confiscate €1.3 Billion ($1.7 Billion) From Italian 'God of Wind'
And more academically:
Econ News You Can Use: "Distributional Effects of Extortion Racket Systems"
"Having the Sopranos on board: Corporate governance and organised crime in Italy"
Italy to Boost GDP by Including Both Prostitution and Cocaine In the Computation
Alphaville Strays onto Our Turf: "Property rights and the economic origins of the Sicilian mafia"
