Page 76 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

roberto Pennisi

Therefore the protection of the environment is perceived by the
European and international community, as a fundamental requirement to live
together in this great European nation and, I would say, in this great worldwide
nation. Then, who are the enemies, considering that later, in other sessions, we
will discuss confronting environmental criminality? So … who are the enemies?
They must be identified correctly because, if we don’t spot the right target, we
risk making mistakes and benefitting the enemies of the environment. I am
saying it now because I have been saying it for a long time, that if we fall in the
old trap of the so-called eco-mafia, understood as the absolute evil at the roots
of environmental damage, we risk acting in the interest of environmental cri-
minality, also because the eco-mafia, today in Italy, does not exist.
Environmental crime, in our country, is not a mafia crime. The mafia, at a given
point in history, going back in time to the end of last century, simply placed
themselves in the service of environmental criminality so that they may achieve
their aims. The mafia, specifically the camorra and, more specifically the camor-
ra of the Casalesi clan, have only been a useful tool. The Casalesi clan have
been servants of environmental criminal powers so that they could pursue their

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