London, April 8, 1999
The international recording industry today commended
Italian police and public prosecutors after 14 Mafia members were arrested for
their part in an international piracy ring stretching from Italy to Russia and
south east Asia.
The crackdown comes after months of investigation by the fiscal and anti-Mafia
police in cooperation with the organizations representing the Italian and the
international recording industry, FIMI and IFPI. The arrests, which took
place in Naples, involved members of an organization named "Quadrifoglio,"
which is close to the Camorra gang Contini. They have been charged with
conspiracy, money laundering and promoting the Mafia.
The action is an important landmark in the fight against piracy in Italy,
which has the second highest piracy rate in the European Union with illegal
recordings accounting for some 20% of the total music retail market. In
particular it shows the role of organized crime in music piracy, the overlap
between piracy and other forms of crime and the growing internationalization
of the pirate businesses.
Among other activities, the Quadrifoglio organization was involved in printing
counterfeit money to pay for pirate CDs imported from Singapore, Greece and
Russia. It also used the illegal proceeds of piracy to finance record
companies producing local pop music.
IFPI's head of enforcement Iain Grant paid tribute to the work of the
anti-Mafia public prosecutors, Luciano D'Angelo and Isabella Iaselli, who have
issued arrest warrants.
Grant said: "This case shows many of the most serious aspects of piracy in
Italy and further afield, such as the role of organized crime and the links
with other forms of smuggling, laundering and counterfeiting. Italy's public
prosecutors and police forces have produced a major success against the
pirates, and this will have ramifications worldwide."