Fentanyl in Italy: why the Mafia keeps the deadly drug at arm's length
Only two fatal fentanyl poisonings were recorded in Italy in 2024, compared to 48,000 in the United States. Experts believe the Mafia is enforcing an informal veto for business reasons.
The Mafia's veto: how Italy avoids a fentanyl epidemic
Only two fatal fentanyl poisonings were recorded in Italy in 2024. That same year Germany recorded 95, whilst in the United States the figure reached close to 48,000. This gap, the Economist observes in an analysis cited by Naftemporiki, is not explained by lower drug use in the country.
According to European data, approximately 2.1% of young adults in Italy use cocaine annually, compared to 2.2% in Germany. Estimated use of high-risk opioids is in fact roughly double the German figure. Yet fentanyl is essentially absent from the Italian market.
Prosecutors and researchers: "The organisations keep their distance"
Nicola Gratteri, one of Italy's most prominent anti-Mafia prosecutors, points out that significant fentanyl seizures in the country remain minimal and believes that criminal organisations deliberately avoid the drug.
In July, Vincenzo Molinese, commander of a special Carabinieri unit focused on organised crime, stated before a parliamentary committee that available evidence suggests criminal organisations are avoiding fentanyl.
Even more categorical is Roberto Saviano, author of "Gomorrah" and longtime student of organised crime. "If there is no fentanyl epidemic, it is not thanks to the police or politicians," he states. "There is a veto from the Mafias."
Cold business logic
The explanation has nothing to do with moral qualms. Fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine. Its enormous potency dramatically increases the risk of death from overdose — and an explosion of deaths would provoke far more aggressive mobilisation by law enforcement. Besides, dead customers do not return.
For organisations such as Cosa Nostra, 'Ndrangheta and Camorra, which control established and highly profitable cocaine and heroin markets, the entry of fentanyl could disrupt a business model that already operates efficiently.
There is no evidence of any formal agreement between the organisations. Researchers do not have wiretaps in which Mafia leaders explicitly decide to ban the drug. If such a policy truly exists, Saviano estimates, the decision would have to have been made at the highest levels. "We will have the proof when someone tries to bring in fentanyl and is killed," he says.
Cracks in the "Italian paradox"
The Italian paradox may have an expiry date. In June, 80 vials of fentanyl were stolen from a Rome hospital — a quantity estimated to correspond to approximately 20,000 doses, according to the Economist. The theft led to stricter security measures at medical facilities.
Synthetic drugs offer traffickers a huge advantage: enormous value fits into minimal volume, drastically reducing the complex supply chain that cocaine, for example, requires. According to Saviano, demand for fentanyl is now beginning to emerge on the street. New criminal groups seeking a market share might at some point defy the alleged veto.
The parallel with the film "The Godfather" — where Don Corleone initially refuses drugs as "dirty business" but eventually accepts a compromise — does not escape the Economist: "Did I ever refuse an offer of a good compromise?" asks the film Corleone. Half a century later, the question remains open for the real organisations as well.
Source: Naftemporiki