ENNE

After having studied for years the “traditional ‘Ndrangheta”, Biagio Simonetta has devoted himself to this new universe - as fluid as a river - and has outlined its contours offering us a lucid analysis of the frightening crime 2.0. Enne re- ads like a thriller, like a novel, but it describes a reality very close to each of us.

“En” is the symbol of Nitrogen. It is a colorless, tasteless, invisible gas, and it is the most widespread element in the air. It is everywhere, as globas as crime. Crime is widespread thanks to the Internet. In recent years, new technologies have remarkably simplified our daily life. Each of us processes tasks that in the past requested several hours - queuing at the counter, forms to fill in - with a simple click. We are so excited by this, that we often forget that Mafias are involved too. They asserted themselves in the web in a way that is as dangerous as furtive and invisible. They discovered new weapons and new, never exploited markets and new ways to handle business transactions.

Today, for example, drug dealers do not work in the dark alleys or places of ill-fame, but in the deep layers of the World Wide Web; pushers decide their movements and organize their appointments with drug-addicts through Facebook. Money laundering is conducted through computers; even though threats of extortion are virtual, they are no less dangerous. At the same time, it has become clear that cybercrime – stealing ID or copying credit cards – is more profitable than drug-dealing: thus a new generation of “picciotti-hacker” is born.

Biagio Simonetta, journalist, lives in Milan since 2010. Author of numerous investigations into the organized crime world, he worked for seven years at the “Quotidiano della Calabria” and has colla- borated with “La Stampa” and “Il Corriere della Sera”. He currently writes for “Il Sole 24 Ore”. He published Faide. L’impero della ‘Ndrangheta (Cairo Editore, 2011) and I padroni della crisi (Il Saggiatore, 2013).