Italy’s renewable energy sector has been a target for the so-called mafia because of the previous government subsidies in addition to it being a relatively new market with very little regulation and legislation. Michael Graham Richard said in “Has the Mafia infiltrated the renewable energy industry?” that recent developments prove the mafia has evolved and trickled into various sectors. He describes how
Italian security forces recently discovered links between the Cosa Nostra and wind and solar companies, controlling around 30% of the wind farms erected in Sicily with police freezing over $2 billion in
assets. In fact Vito Nicastri, a Sicilian businessman, was the main culprit in a 2010 bust. He was known as the “Lord of Wind” because of his investments in alternative energy – mostly wind and solar. On April 3, Nicastri saw security officials confiscate $1.7 billion with assets including 43 wind and solar energy companies, 98 properties, and 66 bank accounts.
Arturo de Felice, head of Italy’s anti-mafia agency, told news channel SkyTG24: “This is a sector in which money can easily be laundered.”
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