In 2020, almost 500 threats against journalists were registered in Italy. About a third of them came from the country’s criminal organizations.
PALERMO When making aggravating allegations about people as journalists, whether they are members of the judiciary or the authorities or mafia criminals, one must be prepared for the consequences.
The Sicilian journalist knows that Marco Bova32, who has been writing about organized crime in Italy for ten years.
He gives an example of what happened when he published a book last year about why one of the most influential leaders in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia organization Matteo Messina Denaroa has not been caught despite nearly 30 years of attempts.
– I knew a judge would charge me and I would no longer be welcome to a city prosecutor’s office, Bova says in her office in Palermo.
It wasn’t the first time someone was angry at Bova’s releases. Bova and the publishers have been sued more than ten times. Much of the charges have been dropped for investigation, but two have ended up in court.
Often the subjects of the cases demand punishment for defamation or huge damages. Such a thing is still going on at Bova right now.
Last October, the weekly l’Espresso published an article by Bova in which he revealed that long-escaped mafia bosses have begun to return to the birthplaces of a criminal organization. The person in the case is now demanding compensation of up to half a million euros from the journalist.
Bova has not been convicted once. He says he does the background work on his stuff with comma-precision.
– The scariest thing is that sometimes I make mistakes. But this is my job and I am ready to accept the consequences. It is necessary to make these facts public, he says.
Reporters hundreds of threats a year from the mafia
Italian organized criminal organizations, or mafia organizations, are still working to restrict journalists’ freedom of expression.
The organization is told by that about 30 percent of these threats come from organized criminal organizations. In Italy, journalists also live in round-the-clock police protection due to threats they receive from criminal organizations.
Until the 1990s, journalists and judges were also killed by Italian mafia organizations.
Born in Sicily in 1989, Bova’s earliest remembrance of the Mafia is a text repeated on the walls of houses in the hometown of Trapani: Mauro lives. It referred to the reporter Mauro Rostagnoonwho was murdered in his car by the Cosa Nostra mafia organization in the late 1980s.
Since then, the ways in which the mafias operate have changed. Crime reports and charges, many of which are fictitious, are now the most common way to try to silence journalists, according to Ossigeno per l’Informazione.
The Mafia is no longer blood, bullets and explosives
Bova also protects its back in everyday life with various practices. He has concealed the addresses of his home and office. Sensitive things are talked about with sources only face-to-face, outdoors in public places.
Still, he stresses that he doesn’t feel threatened.
– The days when the Sicilian mafia involved blood, bullets and explosives are over. Today, Cosa Nostra is powerful because it has infiltrated decision-making and the business world, Bova says.
Bova’s work requires local knowledge, long-term monitoring, archiving of archives and documents, and aggregation of data.
– For example, I spent one summer in the library reading old magazines. But it doesn’t press, on the contrary, I can’t wait to get back into the archives, he says.
In addition to investigative stuff, Bova works as a news reporter for the Italian news agency AGI. Sometimes revelations rise by combining old information with what is happening now. The most important tool is the data bank at the end, Bova says.
– Stories have also been created by following local news that seem insignificant and have nothing to do with the mafia, but when you know the background, you can find a connection.
Relationships with data sources are key
At the heart of it all is a good and lasting relationship with sources of information. Sometimes Bova has been with the springs for dinner, walking or even mountaineering.
Just before ‘s interview, a source has unexpectedly appeared behind the window of Bova’s office: a former police officer focused on financial crimes.
Bova admits that circumstances make her work complicated. However, the real problems he says he only had when the prosecutor’s office of a Sicilian town demanded that he reveal the source of his case.
The union soon rushed, and in the end the court settled the case in Bova’s favor.
– Sometimes it feels like the whole outside world is trying to stop my work, Bova says.
Nevertheless, he intends to continue.
– At least until tomorrow. Beyond that, I can’t say, he says.