I don’t have an exact date for the Mafia’s big comeback here in the area … but it must have happened around the second half of the ’90s, shortly after Maniero’s “repentance” and the immediately following bloodbath of his associates/accomplices/lieutenants.
What shows up is a completely different mafia, with nothing local about it, and very little Italian; here as internationally, the Albanian mafia dominates.
The echoes of its arrival still ring loud today, they come in on tiptoe, they don’t want trouble of any kind, they don’t need to compete with anyone because what’s left is a shabby fabric made up of junkie lowlifes with no real military capability.
They could take everything with no mercy, but they don’t, by choice,,, because they’re here to stay and they don’t want disorder in their new home: They talk to the main local lowlifes and give them a very clear message that sounds more or less like this: “you keep doing what you want but don’t step on our toes, if you want something (anything) we can get it for you at zero risk and low cost, we only ask you not to get smart … and believe it, ... it’s in your own interest!”
It works, none of the local lowlifes dares to utter a word, the few who have some contact with the Italian mafias soon find out that the newcomers are “authorized” to colonize the territory and have all the resources to do it, including cover from the local law enforcement … End of story … it’s a return to a new “business as usual”, run with order … a kind of “iron fist in a velvet glove”.
Yes, sure, trouble happens now and then, for example you can have one of “yours” who occasionally makes a mess, you can have a “boss” who loses control from too much coke, you can even have another Albanian “gang” that comes, uninvited, to visit the territory… but even in these rare cases they’ve known how to move well, acting without drawing too much attention but “solving” the problem.