Rome, where the pasta is al dente and the justice is finally catching up with the criminals. In a move that has sent shockwaves through the Cosa Nostra's holiday home portfolio, Italian authorities have seized a staggering €2 billion in villas, sports cars, and cash from the mafia. The haul includes a Sardinian villa that could double as a Bond villain's lair and a fleet of Maseratis that would make a used car salesman weep with envy.
Meanwhile, the UK Treasury, presumably still fuming over the cost of Brexit, has issued a statement praising Italy's 'asset recovery model' as a 'beacon of financial deterrence.' Which is civil servant speak for 'We wish we had the balls to do this.' The Italians, with the sangfroid of a sommelier choosing a Chianti, simply shrugged.
This is a nation that has seen emperors, popes, and Berlusconi. They know that the mafia is not a cancer to be cured, but a weed to be repeatedly hacked back. And hack they have.
The 'maxi-sequestro' operation, as it is dramatically called, was aimed at the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian crime syndicate that makes the Corleones look like choirboys. The assets include a hotel in Rome, a vineyard in Tuscany, and enough cash to fund a small war. Which, let's be honest, is probably what the mafia was planning.
The UK Treasury's praise is particularly rich, given that Britain's own asset recovery efforts amount to confiscating the odd drug dealer's Subaru. Meanwhile, the mafia is probably already planning their next move from a secret bunker in the Alps, laughing all the way to the cryptocurrency exchange. But for now, let us raise a glass of Negroni to the Italian police.
They may not have the SAS, but they have panache. And in the war against organised crime, style matters.
