Children from mafia families get a chance for a new life

Children and young people growing up in mafia families will be given the chance to break away from organised crime thanks to a new law in Italy aimed at stopping intergenerational recruitment by gangsters, reports the British Guardian.

The newspaper writes that in an unprecedented attempt to break the family chain, the Italian state will offer children and people under 25 and other close relatives of mafia bosses the opportunity to start over: a new home in another city, a new school and, if necessary, a new identity.

The Senate finally passed the bill on Wednesday, entitled “Free to Choose.” “Today, parliament is turning into law a dream that seemed impossible for years,” said Chiara Colosi, president of the parliamentary commission for the fight against the mafia. According to her, about 400 children born into mafia families are expected to be included in the program each year.

In many Italian mafia clans, power is passed down from one generation to another, the British newspaper states, pointing out that while inheritance is not a firm rule in the Sicilian Cosa Nostri or the Neapolitan Camorra, it is deeply rooted in the culture of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta.

These blood ties have long made the 'Ndrangheta extremely difficult to infiltrate and largely resistant to a system of repentant ex-mafia members who choose to cooperate with the authorities. For many, confessing to their clan's crimes would mean betraying not only other gangsters but also their own fathers, grandfathers and uncles.

Despite mass arrests and a series of major trials involving hundreds of defendants, the organization has proven remarkably resilient. While fathers and grandfathers serve life sentences, often in maximum-security prisons, their places are increasingly being taken by sons and other younger relatives, often as teenagers, according to the Guardian.

The law favors mothers and children staying together, provided the mother agrees to cut ties with the mafia.

After becoming president of the juvenile court in Reggio Calabria in 2011, Roberto di Bella launched an unprecedented program of protective supervision, which allowed authorities to remove children from the most dangerous 'Ndrangheta families from their homes and relocate them until they reached adulthood. With the support of educators, social workers and psychologists, they were helped to complete their education and build a life away from organized crime. Parents who continued to involve their children in criminal activities risked losing their parental rights.

The initiative has provoked strong reactions. Di Bella has been accused of separating families, and has been criticized by politicians, analysts and parts of the church, who argue that separating children from their parents, regardless of the circumstances, is an attack on the family. One imprisoned mafia boss threatened the judge, reminding him that everyone has children.

But the program has received unexpected support. Di Bella said that mothers from 'Ndrangheta families, including the wives of powerful bosses, have begun secretly begging him to move their sons out of Calabria, saying they fear they will end up in prison or dead.

The law favors keeping mothers and children together, provided the mother agrees to sever ties with the mafia. Families are moved to a protected location outside the home region. If the mother remains connected to the clan, the children are placed with verified foster families or, when necessary, in sheltered homes, where they receive education and psychological support.

"Today we are not just celebrating the adoption of a law; today we are celebrating the victory of freedom," said Luigi Ciotti, a priest and anti-mafia activist, expressing "enormous joy for the law that protects those who leave the mafia environment."

“It’s a real law,” said Salvatore Vela, the chief prosecutor in Gela, Sicily, one of the island’s historic strongholds of organized crime. “It recognizes that the fight against the mafia is not just a question of policing, but also of culture and the social environment.”

Of course, challenges remain. “I worry that there is a risk that the law will remain largely on paper,” Vela said, warning that the new regulation shifts responsibility for providing safe accommodation, financial support and, when necessary, new identities to the overstretched state protection service. “Without additional funding, staff and professional support, I fear that it will be difficult to implement the law, especially since local social services in Italy are already overburdened.”