The National Anti-Mafia Bureau of Investigation DIA said on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic provided an opportunity for the Italian mafia to expand and develop and become more powerful.

It said that the “economic paralysis” caused by the COVID crisis may exacerbate the Mafia’s “prosperity and expansion prospects, comparable to the post-war scenario.” DIA said in a six-month report to Parliament that the viral crisis provided the Mafia with access to troubled or troubled large and medium-sized companies.

The report added that in 2019, 51 local bodies were disbanded due to Mafia infiltration, the highest number since such actions were first taken in 1991.

The three main mafia groups in Italy are Calabria’s’Ndrangheta, Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, and Campania’s Camorra.

There is also an organized criminal group in Stidda in central Sicily, and a criminal group (United Holy Crown, SCU) called Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia.