Italy that swindles. Small and large-scale illegalities in Italy (1995)
There is an Italy that works and is productive, but there is also an Italy that cheats and that prefers to take advantage of the State rather than to serve it. Our country is also a variegated and articulated construction site, a laboratory of swindles, frauds, deceptions and scams, with a turnover of hundreds of billions. Despite the dense network of formal rules and controls, and precisely because of the lack of simple and clear rules and regulations, we evade and avoid taxes without regrets, we counterfeit money and Cct, clothing and other brands, groceries, videotapes, cheques and invoices. Moreover, we defraud insurance, health, social security and the European Community and we practice illegal building. Furthermore, we abuse the environment by waiting for an amnesty or a settlement, which every government always gives us, we steal works of art, from department stores, water and electricity. In addition, we defraud on public transport and even in bars. In these pages you will not find deep insights into Tangentopoli and its actors, nor the exploits of organised crime, nor the unhinged agitation of mixed criminality. This work does not pretend to be exhaustive, but it is the first analytical research into a system with a thousand small and large satellites, known and less known. This research – halfway between a journalistic enquiry and a cognitive research investigation in the galaxy of a thousand frauds – analyses a long list of the most frequent swindles, classified in 80 chapters, in alphabetical order, as in a dictionary. It is certainly an instructive read in this fragmented, schizophrenic and molecular society, which sends out perverse messages implicitly inviting us to just take our own advantage, no matter the circumstances.
Index
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. False cheques
Chapter 2. Absenteeism
Chapter 3. Road traffic offences
Chapter 4. Miscellaneous
Chapter 5. False invoices
Chapter 6. False enterprises and false entrepreneurs
Chapter 7. False pensions
Chapter 8. False artisans
Chapter 9. False labourers
Chapter 10. False contracts
Chapter 11. False financiers
Chapter 12. False poor people
Chapter 13. Fake civil invalids
Chapter 14. Fake fishermen
Chapter 15. Fake overtime
Chapter 16. Thefts at department stores
Chapter 17. Fake hard-discounts
Chapter 18. The fake bagman
Chapter 19. Tax havens
Chapter 20. The “Portuguese”
Chapter 21. The “Portuguese” at the bar
Chapter 22. Cheating
Chapter 23. The unlicensed bar
Chapter 24. The business of money and fake Ccts
Chapter 25. The business of the dearly departed
Chapter 26. The business of the disabled
Chapter 27. The business of the inflated muscle
Chapter 28. The business of pedigree
Chapter 29. The photocopy business
Chapter 30. The smuggling business
Chapter 31. Fake furniture
Chapter 32. The market in repeats
Chapter 33. The violated environment
Chapter 34. The stolen art
Chapter 35. The black economy: squatters and double workers
Chapter 36. Tax avoidance
Chapter 37. TV licence fee evasion
Chapter 38. Tax evasion
Chapter 39. The broken Italy
Chapter 40. The house of tricks
Chapter 41. The house between abuses and amnesties
Chapter 42. The phantom redundancy fund
Chapter 43. The fake “green” petrol
Chapter 44. Electronic piracy
Chapter 45. Misleading advertising
Chapter 46. Fake reference
Chapter 47. The illegal waste management
Chapter 48. The social housing scam
Chapter 49. The forest fire scam
Chapter 50. The teacher competitions scam
Chapter 51. The Cee professional courses scam
Chapter 52. The spirits scam
Chapter 53. The “chemical” apple scam
Chapter 54. The motorway scam
Chapter 55. The Gescal withholding tax scam
Chapter 56. The holiday scam
Chapter 57. The diesel fraud
Chapter 58. The occult scam
Chapter 59. The cable sex fraud
Chapter 60. The phone scam
Chapter 61. The wild eagle fraud
Chapter 62. The Termoli ” fraud
Chapter 63. The esoteric fraud
Chapter 64. Areas at risk
Chapter 65. Fake credit cards
Chapter 66. Fake cooperatives
Chapter 67. Fake news
Chapter 68. Food fraud
Chapter 69. Insurance fraud
Chapter 70. Insurance fraud
Chapter 71. Video fraud
Chapter 72. Communication fraud
Chapter 73. Trademark fraud
Chapter 74. Water fraud
Chapter 75. State scams
Chapter 76. Electricity frauds
Chapter 77. Electronic frauds
Chapter 78. Health care fraud
Chapter 79. Internet fraud
Chapter 80. American-style frauds