Arlacchi P
Bull Narc. 1984 Oct-Dec;36(4):91-100.
In 1982, the Italian authorities enacted a new law against the mafia conspiracy, which provided for the seizure and confiscation of property illegally acquired by criminals and their associates. This law is intended to strike at the accumulation of wealth of the mafiosi, which chiefly motivates their criminal activity. According to the established procedure, the district attorney or the chief of police are authorized to propose the seizure of property suspected of being derived from crimes, and a court of law decides either to accept or reject such a proposal and, where appropriate, orders the confiscation of illegally acquired assets. Two phenomena were identified, particularly in the southern part of Italy, which preceded the adoption of this new law: one was the establishment of an illegal sector of the economy with the development of a vast illicit market of drugs, and the other was an increase in the number of mafia firms and entrepreneurs. In some areas of western Sicily, for example at Palermo and Trapani, the income derived from illegal activities is estimated at approximately 15 to 20 per cent of the total gross income; the illicit sale of drugs nation-wide exceeds 10,000 billion lire, according to estimates. An assessment of the impact of the new law reveals positive results. In four provinces--Calabria, Campania, Lombardy and Sicily--property suspected of being derived from crimes was seized on 352 occasions and illegally acquired property was confiscated on 108 occasions during a period of 21 months following the adoption of the new law; 98 per cent of the seizures and all of the confiscations took place in the above-mentioned four provinces. The effective enforcement of the new law is, in the long run, expected to result in a movement from illegal to legal activity; if the risk involved in persisting in illegal activities becomes high enough, it should trigger a tendency towards avoiding involvement in the illegal activities and converting the assets into property shares protected by legal means. A certain tendency towards such "legalization" and investment in financial affairs rather than in real estate, agriculture and tertiary assets has already been observed. It is, however, unlikely that the mafia will be inclined to give up easily its profits derived from crime and its power of influence in society, and, consequently, it is expected that the confiscation of the illegally acquired properties will for a long time be the cornerstone of every effective struggle against criminal activity on a large scale.
1982年，意大利当局颁布了一项打击黑手党阴谋的新法律，该法律规定没收罪犯及其同伙非法获取的财产。这项法律旨在打击黑手党财富的积累，而财富积累是他们犯罪活动的主要动机。按照既定程序，地方检察官或警察局长有权提议没收涉嫌来源于犯罪的财产，由法庭决定接受或拒绝该提议，并在适当情况下下令没收非法获取的资产。在这项新法律通过之前，在意大利南部尤其发现了两种现象：一是随着庞大的非法毒品市场的发展，非法经济部门的形成；二是黑手党公司和企业家数量的增加。例如，在西西里岛西部的一些地区，如巴勒莫和特拉帕尼，非法活动所得收入估计约占总收入的15%至20%；据估计，全国范围内非法毒品销售额超过1万亿里拉。对新法律影响的评估显示出了积极成果。在新法律通过后的21个月内，在卡拉布里亚、坎帕尼亚、伦巴第和西西里这四个省份，涉嫌来源于犯罪的财产被没收352次，非法获取的财产被没收108次；98%的没收行动和所有的充公行动都发生在上述四个省份。从长远来看，新法律的有效实施预计将导致从非法活动向合法活动的转变；如果继续从事非法活动所涉及的风险变得足够高，就应该引发一种避免参与非法活动并将资产转化为受法律保护的财产份额的倾向。已经观察到了某种朝着这种“合法化”以及投资金融事务而非房地产、农业和第三产业资产的趋势。然而，黑手党不太可能轻易放弃其犯罪所得利润及其在社会中的影响力，因此，预计没收非法获取的财产将在很长一段时间内成为大规模打击犯罪活动的每一项有效斗争的基石。
