The Italian mafia has long ceased to be an ordinary paramilitary structure that profits from racketeering, banditry, and territorial control. Having abandoned the high-profile terrorist attacks and street violence that drew excessive law enforcement attention in the 1990s, mafia clans adopted a strategy of invisible infiltration into the legal sectors of the economy. This is why European grants, tax incentives, investments in energy efficiency, and funds from Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan became one of their most attractive resources.
Unlike classic local corruption cases, this is no longer about a single fraudulent tender, but about organized crime’s attempt to embed itself within Italy’s economic modernization program. The funds that the EU allocates for digitalization, the green transition, energy efficiency, infrastructure modernization, and business support have in a number of cases become targets for schemes where everything formally appears to be the development of a “green” economy, but in reality involves converting public money into mafia capital.
The largest mafia structure in Italy is the ‘Ndrangheta, based in the Calabria region. As of 2026, it has been officially recognized by EU and US law enforcement as the most dangerous criminal organization in the world, surpassing the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra in influence. Unlike other mafias, the ‘Ndrangheta’ is built on strict blood ties. Its fundamental unit is the family, which makes it almost impervious to police. In Cosa Nostra, gang members could become police informants to avoid imprisonment. In the ‘Ndrangheta, betraying the organization means betraying one’s own father, brother, or son. As a result, cooperation with investigators is far rarer.
The ‘Ndrangheta’ controls more than 80% of cocaine trafficking in Europe. It has direct agreements with Colombian and Mexican cartels. They control key European ports, such as Gioia Tauro in Calabria, and wield significant influence in the ports of Antwerp (Belgium) and Rotterdam (the Netherlands). According to expert estimates, the ‘Ndrangheta’s annual turnover exceeds €50–60 billion — more than the revenue of many major European corporations or even the GDP of some countries. The organization has a vast network of legitimate businesses for laundering its capital, owning chains of restaurants, hotels, construction companies, and logistics centers throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Canada.
The large-scale special operation “Resilient Crime,” conducted by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and Italy’s Financial Guard between 2024 and 2026, served as official confirmation that organized crime had successfully infiltrated the EU’s highest financial mechanisms. The investigation exposed a transnational criminal network that, through an elaborate system of shell companies, stole more than €600 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds intended to address the consequences of the pandemic and stimulate the green transition. The geography of the crime extended beyond the traditional centers of mafia influence in Italy to include Austria, Slovakia, and Romania, where front companies operated.
Specialized software and artificial intelligence were used to submit grant applications, automatically generating flawless financial reports that raised no suspicions in European automated audit systems. The stolen funds were immediately converted into cryptocurrencies and funneled through offshore accounts, making physical tracing virtually impossible. Many European grants were obtained for fictitious projects involving the digitalization of small businesses and the introduction of energy-efficient technologies in Calabria and Sicily.
If “Resilient Crime” demonstrated the technological sophistication of modern crime, the operation “Nuovi Orizzonti,” whose active phase spanned 2025–2026, revealed the deep infiltration of mafia clans into the renewable energy sector. The investigation, conducted by the Carabinieri and the specialized units of the DIA (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia) in Calabria and Piedmont, concluded with the arrest of dozens of individuals and the seizure of assets worth more than €200 million.
The primary target of the perpetrators was the mechanism of tax credits and direct EU subsidies for the installation of solar panels, wind turbines, and the modernization of industrial facilities to meet environmental standards. A network of companies controlled by the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta systematically falsified completion certificates. Entire solar power parks were constructed on paper, while in reality the funds were being siphoned through shell structures before the foundations were even laid. The operation confirmed that the scheme’s success depended on corrupt engineers and energy auditors — it was they who signed off on fraudulent reports that passed government inspections thanks to professionally fabricated technical documentation. The mafia leveraged its traditional influence over the construction sector, monopolizing the supply of concrete and waste removal for “green” projects, allowing it to control the entire chain of public expenditure.
“Nuovi Orizzonti” set a legal precedent: it proved that “green energy” in Italy had become a new highly profitable vein for the mafia. Due to the complexity of auditing such projects at the planning stage, criminal clans found the perfect cover for laundering billions of euros wrapped in the guise of “environmental responsibility.”
The Italian government’s response to the exposure of large-scale fraud in 2025–2026 was severe, as Rome’s reputation as the largest recipient of European recovery funds was at stake. Brussels explicitly raised the possibility of freezing future tranches if oversight was not strengthened. Following “Nuovi Orizzonti,” the government introduced mandatory double audits for all energy projects worth more than €500,000. A permanent working group was established under the Ministry of the Interior, bringing together analysts from the Financial Guard (Guardia di Finanza) and cybersecurity specialists. A transparency system was introduced requiring every subcontractor in the “green” project supply chain to hold a digital certificate of integrity.
The modern mafia has shifted from coercive pressure to a strategy of “silent infiltration,” in which criminal influence is disguised as legitimate commerce. The ‘Ndrangheta’s expansion into the EU illustrates that the priority has become “grey investment” in strategic sectors — such as logistics, construction, and waste processing — to launder funds and build corrupt networks. Rather than waging open war against the state, mafia structures now prefer to parasite their institutional weaknesses, using offshore schemes and complex financial arrangements. This transforms them into transnational shadow corporations, where market manipulation and “soft” corruption are more effective tools of control than open violence.
The fight against the mafia is not about its destruction and eradication, but rather a continuous process of shrinking its living space. The experience of Italian and American law enforcement demonstrates that defeating mafia structures is possible only through a comprehensive dismantling of the symbiosis between organized crime, business, and politics. The key instruments are not merely the physical isolation of leaders, but above all asset seizure and the implementation of rigorous financial monitoring. Ultimately, the mafia’s viability depends on its social base, meaning that a final victory requires replacing shadow services with effective state institutions and eradicating a culture of tolerance toward corruption.
Despite systematic efforts, the mafia cannot be entirely eradicated due to its remarkable ability to adapt instantly to any changes in legislation and technology. It will inevitably transform, integrating into new economic realities to find ever more sophisticated loopholes for siphoning public funds.