Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
FIRST ITALY FOUGHT its mafia mobsters by confiscating their wealth. Now judges are taking away something more precious: their sons.
Riccardo Cordi’, a shy 18-year-old scion of one of Italy’s most notorious mob families, is a pioneer in a new strategy to fight the mafia by exiling crime clan sons from their homes and families.
Riccardo is the first of about 20 sons sent into a kind of rehab away from the mob by juvenile courts in the southern region of Calabria, home to the dangerous ‘ndrangheta syndicate.
By age 16, Riccardo seemed destined to go the way of his father, a reputed boss gunned down in a turf war, and three elder brothers in prison on mafia-related convictions.
Their photos line the wall of the fortress-like Cordi’ home in Calabria, seen in an exclusive visit by The Associated Press, in a testimony to the rule of blood in the powerful ‘ndrangheta.
But when Riccardo was charged with attempted theft and damage to a police car, judge Roberto Di Bella followed up his acquittal with a startling order: The ‘ndrangheta family prince would be sent away to Sicily until he turned 18.
Di Bella had sent Riccardo’s three brothers to prison and wanted to spare the last son a similar fate. He cited legal provisions that allowed courts to remove minors from families incapable of properly raising them.
Riccardo’s mother seethed, but there was nothing she could do.
“If you don’t like it, we’ll take him away anyway,” the judge told her.
Riccardo was placed in a Sicilian facility for troubled youths where nobody cared that he was a Cordi’. Rules were rigid, including no going out at night. Everyone made their own bed and sat down for meals at a communal table.
“It was tough. I was counting the days,” Riccardo said in interviews with The AP.
The judge put Riccardo under the wing of a fledgling psychologist, Enrico Interdonato. The psychologist had helped launch a courageous band of youths who encourage Sicilian business owners to stop paying “protection” money to the Mafia.
It was an audacious pairing, because the Cordi’ crime clan was itself alleged to be in the protection racket. This unlikely mentor helped Riccardo understand the terrible human toll of organized crime, taking him incognito to ceremonies for Mafia victims.
If the psychologist acted as a surrogate brother, a construction company owner practically became Riccardo’s second father. Mariano Nicotra told Riccardo what happened when he refused to pay protection money: His car was torched, his daughter ostracized. Nicotra even gave away the family dog, because Mafia threats made walks dangerous.
Nicotra saw something in Riccardo that few back home even bothered to look for: a normal kid.
Slowly Riccardo began to change. Twice a week, he helped out at an after-school center for children from broken homes, even though doing something for nothing is an alien concept in the ‘ndrangheta.
He moved stiffly, always buttoned up, wearing a jacket even at outings at the sea. But he came willingly, a supervisor recalled. One day, he surprised everybody by clucking like a hen to make the children laugh.
Riccardo’s exile wasn’t all hard work. On Saturday nights, Interdonato took Riccardo out for pizza and beers, and even to discos. There, he earned respect because of his personality, not his name.
Just weeks before he was due to leave, Riccardo rebelled. He packed his bags. He wanted out. His mother helped persuade him to stay.
On his 18th birthday — Feb. 8, 2014 — Riccardo’s exile ended. The after-school center treated him to a birthday cake with strawberries. Soon afterward, he returned home to Locri.
In a letter to Corriere della Sera in May, Riccardo made clear he wasn’t repudiating his family. But he wrote that he now wants a “clean” life.
He recalled how one morning in exile, he went to the sea, from where he could see Calabria.
“This time, however, I saw it from another perspective: I was seeing it from another place,” he said. “But it was I who was different.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I have the awful feeling that this is going to burn us all, l have no doubt that the spin doctors will be in full swing pouring out guff about its the best thing for us, how its the ” fair and right thing to do” but the truth is this may just plunge us all into worse poverty than we can imagine, but they will blame the last shower on this, of that l have no doubt.
Let me the first to prove you right: the last shower did this. You should be saying thank you to this Government for effectively reversing us out of the ditch. Easier to whine though, isn’t it? “The end is nigh….”
It must be of economic benefit to Enda Michael et al and the civil servants in the financial dept too , can’t see why yet but in time we will !!! Amazing how they want control back with no safeguard attached , makes no sense to the great unwashed peasants among us !
Yeah Kate. My feeing is that it was just for the sake of PR spin which if true is very frightening. It has not been explained why they did not even ASK what the loan conditions would be. Just amazing !!!
No it won’t, and this statement is rubbish. If things go t!ts up again we have an ECB backstop to support us. And they will support us- we’ve put up with a serious amount of sh!t the past 5 or 6 years, we will reap some benefits from this. We are now the poster child, we cannot be allowed fail without allowing the Euro fail. Sure look at what the ECB put up with with the Greeks and they still get sorted out.
Look up “signalling” in economics to understand why this whole difficult to access supports rubbish is little more than that.
What about Anglo, Mr. Drum applied for a Treaty Trader Visa and to qualify he had to have a considerable amount of cash flow.
We are slowly heading over the cliff and still the untruth are told by those that rule and regulate and operate in the gang cartel
I’d rather the comfort of an overdraft than the prospect of not….
I’d rather Irish sovereignty than not.
Fiscal Treaty was passed, IMF going nowhere the other two members reveiwing every six months.Yes we got our sovereignty back.
I love the unashamed hypocrisy on the Journal. Unbelievable the comments below. Three years of whining about the Troika and our dependence on them. Now the Government has moved to oust them and ye are all like Heroin addicts craving Methodone to keep ye going. “We should have taken the credit line….” You cowards. Lacking the confidence and fortitude to believe Ireland will stand on its own two feet. Or is it that you don’t want us to because it doesn’t fit your “this Government is useless” narrative. This from the same people who were so confident we’d need a second bailout. Funny how ye just brush over the cost any credit line would bring with it. And of course had the Government taken the credit line, strings attached ye would be crying about a whimpy sell out Government with no balls.
The Imf confirmed they are going nowhere, the other part of the troika will be carrying out twice yearly reveiws yeah some ousting.
Norman- you just embarrass yourself with your inability to differentiate between a passive review and daily interference. It speaks of your general inability to grasp things and also speaks of you as an Irishman- you’re so intent on being seen to be right that you actually hope Ireland fails. At the end of the day it’s not so long ago you were adamant there’d be a second bailout. You’re no mystic meg. Pathetic.
Kevin you kept repeating the mantra you were waving them goodbye, when are they going?
Kevin I never said the would be a second bailout, why do you insist on lying?
Seriously, Norman. Is that all you have in the locker? That’s the height of it? Really? Seriously? That the Troika will retain a physical presence here? And comment? You reckon that’s the same as writing our budgets? Lol. You sort of prove my point about some people craving failure. You do know the British have retained an embassy in Dublin, yes? You think they’re still running the Republic too, do you? I’m glad you alerted us to this danger. There’s an IKEA out on the M50. Clearly the Vikings are retaining a foothold in our affairs.
Kevin deflect, deflect.Spin lie all you want which you have a talent for.Despite your BS the troika is going nowhere.
You’re the one deflecting, Norman. I’ve asserted the Troikas presence is nothing but a cosmetic exercise- we have de facto powers of self determination restored. And you’ve nothing to come back with. Instead, you’re just coming across like a deer caught in the headlights. You’re all out of populist claptrap in the face of a substantive accomplishment on the part of our people and our country. I know you’re limited, but have the good sense to keep quiet when you’ve lost a round. It might give you a little more authority when you read & regurgitate something on here that actually has some validity.
Kevin keep spinning the BS, but sadly for you a large section of our population don’t believe the crap.
Even the spinning of the budget made the headlines in the Sunday Business Post.
FG all spin no substance.
And again no substantive rebuttal. Just a populist catchphrase “FG all spin, no substance”. Did it take you long to think up the insightful riposte. God, you’re a joke.
Kevin when are the troika leaving? Why did the government give two different reduction figures for the budget.One for home consumption and the other for the international community. Try and answer without personal insults if your’re capable if not best you say nothing at all.
Ah, Norman. Still clinging to the Troika tag line? Really? Is there no one you can ring who can help you out of this hole? Come on. Contradict the point that the Troika’s role is now merely cosmetic. You must have something. Because to be frank, you’re coming across pretty poorly here. “They’ll still have offices here” is a pretty pathetic response. Come on, Chief. Let’s see what you’ve got….
Oh Norman….come out, come out wherever you are…..
Kevin so no answer then? HQ closed at this hour.
Nite nite.
As I said: Coward
That was a bit humiliating for you, Norman. Sorry. I shouldn’t play with you like that. I shouldn’t take such satisfaction. You’re a one man walking, talking advertisement for an IQ test for voters, but hey- we live in a democracy. The village idiot has the same say as a Nobel laureate.
Dont like the sound of your democracy Kevin
Kevin, why don’t you address the point of the article that the government rejected having access to a line of credit that could only be potentially useful. Did they do this because of arrogance or for PR purposes ? I can’t think of any other reasons – can you ?
Michael- I did address the core point of the article. It’s a profound statement of national sovereignty AND more importantly it’s a rejection of additional terms and conditions from the Troika. Chief amongst which, by the way looked to be our corporate tax rate. A credit line without strings, anyone would have taken. And it should have been offered. We danced enough to their tune. In the absence of such an offer our options were to meekly submit or take our balls in our hands and stand on our own two feet. I’m proud we opted for the latter.
“Could only be potentially useful”- it could have been catastrophic. How is it no one on here is factoring in the T&C’s that would come with the credit line? Because our experience of the Troika is that their help doesn’t come at a price????? Please….
Kevin couldn’t let this one go,do you understand the concept of Irony? You hide behind twitter on what is this your 8th account? because you keep getting banned and you call me a “coward”.
You really are a first rate bellend.
yeah maybe but they did not even ask what the Ts and Cs would be ? Why not ?
your comment about corporate tax rate is bogus and a complete red herring
Norman- still waiting for your riposte. Don’t be trying to divert, now :)
Michael- do you read the papers at all? The terms of any further “support” to Ireland was being played out in Germany’s coalition negotiations for Gods sake. Both Finland and Hollands Finance Ministers explicitly agreed with the SPD’s insistence that our Corporate Tax rate be the price of any further “help”. And if you really believe that Dublin had no idea what the price would be for a credit line you’re crazy. Ireland’s exit from the bailout was choreographed with military precision. Noonan knew exactly what the cost would be, even if it hadn’t be formally negotiated.
Oh Norman….less of the name calling and more of the substance, please!!!!!
Kevin, “Noonan knew what the cost would be” Really, why then when any query put to gov spokesman about it they said that the Ts and Cs of the line of credit were never asked about ?
a few too many kevin?….complete PR exercise
seanie fitz is saying ye should join up and form the one big rotten party….i think you will like my comment
ah no on a more serious note…whats going to happen when they stress test our banks and find out that they are insolvent
Kevin our independence is long gone , this fictional notion that we have our country back is a load of @@@@@ , we are now more than ever compromised to the EEC without all the supports we would sink beyond trace !!!
Since when is “ye” a word in contemporary English?
good man nick…riveting analysis there
Kevin,
Your pride and faith in this government shine through, indeed well done to them.
I can only imagine the smile on Angela Merkels face.
I wasn’t trying to give an analysis. I am far too ignorant to be able to discuss fiscal matters in an informed manner.
I was commenting on the fact that the people who are willing to discuss these matters have faulty English, which would make their other opinions suspect to say the least.
I disagree – with the second part. We would have less sovereignty if we continued to let deal makers in the IMF and Brussels bribe us for handouts.
So there is 73 billion in government coffers and more again sitting in our banks yet people are starving,going homeless and committing suicide because they simply don’t see a way out for themselves,human rights went off a cliff in this country.
Starving? Second time I’ve read this complete nonsense on here in 24 hours. Google Ethiopia 1984 if you want to see starving.
The clowns are out in force tonight.
The eu won’t let Ireland fail as it’s americans biggest interest point
It’s not a matter of failing, it’s a matter of how much it’s going to cost the state, the economy and you and I
All I can say is. Out. Out out every one of ye are a joke
Is anyone surprised? Just another coke up by these gangsters.
So it will be more “difficult”. That doesn’t mean it is impossible. So we MAY breach the 3% Growth and Stability Pact in the future. So will the majority of Eurozone countries. The ECB/EU/IMF won’t allow us to go belly up because they have more to lose than we do. They will huff and they will puff but they won’t let this Irish house fall down.
This all seems to be more of a strop by vested interests. Yes the actions by the government are a gamble but these institutions like the IMF are based on a gamble themselves, that loans they give out etc will be paid back and don’t go all the way for example like Argentina did in 2002/3. Just because we decided to take our own chances as a sovereign nation rather than take their gamble doesn’t make us worse. We are exercising our sovereign right to pursue the path we feel is right.
Good comment except for your miss conception about our sovereignty. We have basically lost that, at least on and economic level. EU now set our budgetary / deficit targets, while we can do what we want within these targets if we break them, then we have to answer to the EU and pay fines, we signed up to that and gave control to EU.
Every Eurozone country (and most of the rest in the EU) has also signed up to this protocol. You make it sound like this was demanded just from Ireland. The reality is that if the Euro is to work then these sort of rules should have been there in the first place. The fact that they weren’t is what allowed countries get away with breaking the rules.
Well I meant we are exercising what is left of our sovereign right, some of which was lost in the bailout and only just gotten back. I think the not going for the credit line had a lot to do with that.
It is still to be seen how the Commission will punish excessive deficits, or with Germany, surpluses. Their track record so far has not been very good in that respect.
It is our sovereign right to remain in the Euro, and subject ourselves to the terms and conditions of membership. It is also our sovereign right to leave the Euro. Because we have chosen to remain in the Euro, it is our sovereign right to make our grandchildren pay for our mistakes.
That is Endas legacy.
It’s certainly the kind of backbone you wouldn’t get from Dirtie Ahern
Sounds like Europe have given noonan a slap on the back of the neck and a bit of back peddling and spin is the order of the day.
So Im broke so so broke the government gives me a loan paid to me in installments on thw basis Ive to cut my spending. I’ve done that and ive just received my last payment, I will from now on be expected to pay back this loan and they are saying the best thing for me is to get a credit card…. my bollix it is!!! Its possible one of the worse things I can do.
I dont agree with many things this government have done (I didnt vote for them and wont in the future) but in this instance they are right. Getting a credit line would never have come with terms we wanted. Sure we have seen the ability of this shower to negotiate with the actual bail out and the promissory notes that are now sovereign debt (thanks lads). We honestly are best off leaving it alone and if we ever need help in the future it would be in Europes interest to help.
I would rather them have a credit line set up when we don’t need it at cheaper rates than apply for one when we really do need it. You know Europe will screw us if we come begging, our Government is inept at thrashing out a deal. Also not sure that Noonan is doing this for an ego trip just to prove that he can do his job. he dabbled in the Tbill’s way to much just to prove a point, that ended up adding extra debt to us when we really didn’t need it.
The credit line would be a defence against the markets ganging up on us as they did 2 years ago when our ‘bond yields’ (interest payments, or in this case ‘the vig’) hit 14%.
That’s the problem. Europe (in particular Germany and Finland) are screwing us on terms. But they’re doing it partly to get us off the methadone. It’s no use being able to come running back to the ECB for money. That would just turn Europe in to one big social welfare pit. It’s about the best they can do. I also agree that it’s better to have the IMF out of our financial affairs as they are even more out of touch than our own government, or more corrupt. The IMF has a more limited influence now, and a precautionary credit line is just the promise of more methadone.
But the people elected Noonan to make the decisions and not the Fiscal Advisory Council. Sure has not his own experience of buying his own home 40 years ago not help him share the Irish economy of today and the future?
Mind you being a teacher 40 years ago was always one of the ways to guarantee you got a morgtage as you had a job for life unlike the majority of the citizens.
This reads like the end of a love affair.
Politics requires an upbeat “we’re grand, we’re grand” as the next election looms. McHale would like to remain credible as an economist.
Risks to forecasts are “tilted to the downside” – which they always were.
If we stop bailing out corrupt bankers we won’t need a line of credit!
Noonan looks to me like I would expect Darth Vadar to look with his helmet off. With or without it he is just as much villainous in assisting in the subjugation of his people.
Only-one-can-know-me
Fantastic leadership. If we just stopped paying welfare and said to hell with Taft class of nothing people then it would be a lot better for us decent people.
Yeah, and then shoot the disabled and old. Set up an intelligence test at birth to weed out the dumb. Also gas all artists. What did they ever contribute to society? Keep going and there will be the optimal situation: only you in the world. Then you can commit suicide rather than face a lonely old age. Problem solved!
Kevin rather than reversing we are full steam ahead into the abyss we are drowning Kevin there are no jobs there is no money , SMEs are dying on their feet no credit no loans no hope no future , the spinners have spun a web you have been caught in ! Public service staff are under pressure but the wages keep coming not so in the private sector ! We are on life support Kevin and the prognosis is not good !!!
This country is f….d we have given away our heritage bit by bit, joining EEC was the start of it and we all got too greedy .nobody cares about morals or truth or doing right anymore .we are giving it all away even down to saying a prayer in national school a lot of schools won’t do it now in case they offend other religions .well this is Ireland and if we look Irish and act Irish and we are Irish let’s start fighting for to keep our respect and heritage.we have to stop looking for handouts all the time ,the easy way.think of the way our grandparents fought to bring his country back after he famine and what the English did.some don’t know the history coz younger venerations were born into when times were good and they got what they want, and that’s what they have come to expect
More tax.
Who is advising Old Man Noonan he has compounded the problems of this country by sailing off into the sunset without adequate lifeboats like the Tiitanic !!!
Alan sad to see you are so blinkered , I know children are going to school hungry unless you are saying teachers are telling lies !!!
have your say