Eight Months After the Earthquake: L'Aquila Battles Despair, Inertia and Corruption

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For instance, IGC, a company from the southern Sicilian town of Gela, is believed to have been involved in the construction of a new development in Bazzano, a small town on the outskirts of L'Aquila. The so-called "new town," which provides comfortable lodgings for up to 1,600 currently homeless people, is supposed to be earthquake-proof and built in accordance with the latest environmental standards. But the Rome-based DIA, the federal body charged with investigating Mafia activities, believes that there are connections between IGC and "associates of the Mafia family of the Rinzivillo brothers" and has now had the public prosecutor's office in L'Aquila launch an investigation.

The supposedly above-board company has continued to keep its involvement discreet. Instead of participating directly in the public bidding process, IGC simply installs its own people as subcontractors in the construction projects. For example, a company called Edimal, which has signed contracts worth €54 million, is nominally in charge of the construction of the earthquake-proof accommodations in Bazzano. A spokesman of the company based in L'Aquila said that the Sicilian company, IGC, was awarded the contract because it "offered the best guarantees in terms of quality, price and plan completion."

Experts say that the profits being made with the project are still slim. Nevertheless, Franco Gabrielli, the prefect of L'Aquila, and Interior Minister Roberto Maroni are aware that the honorable men from Sicily could already have a foot in the door. Accordingly, they have announced new efforts in the fight against the Mafia.

Officials are also determined to assign blame for the fatal negligence in the construction of some of the buildings in the region struck by the earthquake. In the case of a collapsed "House of Students" in L'Aquila, which killed eight people, a dozen suspects are being investigated for negligent homicide, according to Alfredo Rossini, the local public prosecutor. They include civil engineers and technicians as well as public administration officials.

Unwelcome Favors

The region was long considered a Mafia-free zone. But now, two organized crime families -- the Neapolitan Camorra and the Sacra Corona Unita from Apulia -- have made deep inroads into society. Well-known Mafia leaders are now using the region as a base from which to coordinate the drug or garbage trade, hiding themselves and their riches in the mountains.

According to Il Centro, a local newspaper, many mayors of smaller towns in the earthquake region have recently reported having to meet with some peculiar visitors. "People show up offering you the strangest things," one of the mayors said. The men apparently come from Lombardy, Calabria and the Veneto region and make proposals like: "Give me your rubble, and I'll take care of it." The mayor said that it was obvious that they were representatives of the notorious garbage mafia -- which was why he consistently escorted them out of his office.

Still, some village leaders will be delighted to get rid of the rubble, which is difficult to transport and partly tainted with asbestos. They forgot that, in doing so, they are only becoming new parts of the Mafia empire.

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• Part 1: L'Aquila Battles Despair, Inertia and Corruption
• Part 2: 'I Live in Purgatory'
• Part 3: The Honorable Men from Sicily