Southern companies confiscated from “Mafia Spa” can generate wealth and jobs. Certainly not all: between empty boxes created only to issue false invoices and companies robbed of all resources, those that remain with production parameters are few. In 2020, the turnover of the 138 joint-stock companies removed from illegality and obliged to file financial statements was almost 112 million euros. However, 92% comes from only 11 companies, a small group of companies that demonstrate performance in line with “clean” companies, also thanks to agreements that favor the creation of production chains with the “Anti-Mafia” guarantee mark. This is the picture that emerges from the analysis carried out by Unioncamere and the Tagliacarne Study Center on the 138 joint-stock companies that have filed their 2020 financial statements within the deadline, as part of the Open Knowledge project – program financed by Pon Legalità 2014-2020 – to know and enhance the confiscated companies through the “Open Data – Confiscated Companies” site created by Unioncamere in collaboration with the National Agency for seized and confiscated assets.
In all, in October 2022 the companies in definitive confiscation are 2,796, of which 1,174 active, 649 discontinued, 683 in bankruptcy proceedings, 279 inactive.
Numbers and territories
From the analysis of the 138 joint-stock companies it emerges that 8% of the largest companies (turnover over one million) have a turnover of over 102 million, a net worth of 57.8 million, investments in fixed assets for 44 million and 404 employees. For 77 companies, the turnover is zero. Despite this, they still guarantee the economic circuit that revolves around them to survive.
The study analyzes in particular the companies located in Sicily, Puglia, Calabria, Campania, from which 70% of the turnover of the examined companies comes.
Comparison with healthy companies in the same sector and of similar size shows that the weight of the confiscated companies is not indifferent. In Campania, their turnover is equal to 10% of that of “comparable” legal companies, in Calabria 24%. In Sicily (the region with the largest number of confiscated businesses) it even surpasses it, driven by the presence of a company (fish processing) which has a turnover of around 53 million euros and employs 72 people.