Russo: a new crime to counter mafia 'kowtows' and pompous funerals of bosses

A bill, which is starting its journey through the Senate, wants to introduce the crime of apologia and incitement to organised or mafia crime. The declared objective is to combat bows in front of the residences of people linked to the criminal underworld, pompous funerals of local bosses, and messages on social networks glorifying the mafia. The bill is assigned to the Justice Committee of Palazzo Madama in redigente, which is a formula that provides for a rapid procedure, reserving only the final vote to the Chamber. The first signatory is Senator Raoul Russo of Fratelli d'Italia, the protagonist of the Parlamento24 episode.

A bill, explains Senator Russo, prompted by 'too many episodes on the ground where homages to mafia culture still occur, including on social media and in some cultural phenomena. Mafiosi who have devastated our nation are exalted as heroes. Here, to combat all this, to combat the homages, for example, of some singers to mafia bosses, we considered it essential to introduce this new offence of apologia and incitement to the mafia'.

The bill, in a single article, introduces Article 416-bis2 into the Criminal Code. "The new offence of apologia and incitement to the mafia basically provides that anyone who, by concrete acts, by communications, in all possible forms and if it does not constitute an even more serious offence, is punished with a penalty ranging from six months to three years and a fine ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 euro. So quite a heavy sanction for those who, with specifically apologetic intent, perform acts that glorify mafia culture or exalt, even worse, the gestures of certain mafia members,' Russo explains in the video interview.

A bill, that of Russo, similar to the one presented to the Chamber by the deputy Carolina Varchi (Fdi), which had aroused criticism for the reference, in the illustrative report, 'to the production and diffusion of television series that mythologise real or imaginary characters of the various mafia-type criminal associations known in Italy'. A text that had suggested a censorship will with the aim of eliminating TV series such as Gomorra and Mare Fuori, which does not appear in the Russo bill. Russo's text provides, however, like Varchi's, that the new offence would not only punish those who "publicly extol facts, methods, principles or behaviour typical of mafia-type criminal associations", but also those who "re-propose acts or behaviour with unequivocal apologetic intent or incite someone to commit the same crimes". "This is not a censorious offence," Senator Russo clarifies. "A doubt can be safely dispelled. It is a specific crime, which persecutes those who openly and specifically exalt the disvalues of criminal culture. It certainly does not reduce freedom of expression in this nation. Because in order to defend freedoms, we have to counter the overpowering power of organised crime

Russo hopes that the redrafting of the bill will ensure a quick approval. 'The bill is very simple, clear, straightforward. It has been hinged in the past few days in the Justice Committee. I personally, even if I am not in the Justice Committee, will follow the work. I think,' emphasises Russo, 'that it is a proposal that can have a broad, bipartisan consensus, because it really is not a regulation that casually introduces this crime. It is a rule that serves, in this specific case, to counter a drift that the younger generations are unfortunately experiencing, namely that of seeing exalted values that are unanimously considered negative for the whole of civil society'.