As a rule, the concepts of counterfeiting and terrorism are not seen as quite compatible, mostly due to the drastic difference in the end goals of each type of criminal activity. However, some terrorist organizations have sought to venture into counterfeiting, effectively expanding into massive illegal yet tremendously lucrative businesses. The notorious Italian Mafia has been particularly infamous for its efforts to capture the Italian market and seeking to divert the revenue stream to fund its nefarious activities (Beqiraj et al., 2020). Although Mafia’s activities can hardly be restricted due to the overwhelming power that it has already established in Italy, accurate tools for detecting counterfeits and preventing them from entering the European market must be incorporated into the current measures.
Italian Mafia’s involvement in counterfeiting has been quite prominent., mostly due to the overwhelming power that Mafia holds in Italy as its infamous organized crime institution. Among the key counterfeit-related activities in which Mafia has been engaged, manufacturing fake products for sale has been the main one (Beqiraj et al., 2020). For instance, in 2017, Mafia was involved in manufacturing fake olive oil for selling to EU countries (Bacchi, 2017). Though the described counterfeit endeavor might seem as insignificant, especially given the range and severity of crimes for which the Italian Mafia has been known, the specified incident has produced a rather ample impact on the trade between Italy and other European states. According to the reports issued in response to the specified event, cheap oil was “re-labeled as the more expensive “extra virgin” variety, prized for its rich taste and health benefits, and distributed as such to retail stores in New Jersey” (Bacchi, 2017). The specified activities undermine the reputation of Italian food manufacturers and the related companies, therefore, jeopardizing the very basis of the state’s economy. Therefore, the problem of food counterfeiting must be managed so that Italian companies working in the food industry and exporting their goods can continue to flourish.
In order to combat the issue, measures for identifying the instances of counterfeit and preventing them from entering the market must be designed. Unfortunately, an alternative solution that could be seen as more efficient, namely, fighting Mafia in the first place, is presently highly improbable. Since the Italian Mafia has practically ingrained itself into the economic and political context of Italy, overthrowing its rein will take a tremendous amount of time. Therefore, introducing tools for detecting instances of counterfeiting and removing them from the market should be accepted as a reasonable temporary measure (Juntunen, 2019). Thus, the very concept of counterfeiting will no longer seem lucrative to organized crime members, which is bound to cause the number of counterfeits to shrink significantly.
By developing and installing devices for better identification of counterfeit products and removing them from the range of those circulating in the European market, the Italian government and the adjacent state bodies will be able to counteract the counterfeit efforts of the Mafia. Even though the Mafia itself cannot be managed currently, having implanted itself firmly into the political and economic structures, measures against counterfeit, such as more precise instruments for identifying it and removing it from the European market, must be incorporated into the current strategies. While presently, counterfeit remains robust and seemingly undefeatable, a set of coordinated actions may help address the situation.
References
Bacchi, U. (2017). Italian police break mafia ring exporting fake olive oil to U.S. Reuters. Web.
Beqiraj, E., Fedeli, S., & Giuriato, L. (2020). Policy tolerance of economic crime? An empirical analysis of the effect of counterfeiting on Italian trade. European Journal of Political Economy, 65, 1-16. Web.
Juntunen, A. (2019). Criminality, smuggling, counterfeit and trafficking: A review of different types of criminal activities in diaspora networks. In Diaspora Networks in International Business, 183-201. Web.