Another Triumph for the Police in Palermo

Well, they would like to think so.

It seems that even in Palermo, historic heartland of the Sicilian Mafia, there is a problem with ethnically based criminality that is not, for once, Sicilian. Let the ever dependable Giornale di Sicilia take up the story, translated by me:

“The financial police of the Palermo provincial command have found a clandestine gambling den complete with poker cards and mah-jong tiles, a game rooted in Chinese culture. The police noticed that on Saturdays and Sundays a Chinese household goods shop was particularly busy in the evening and night hours. People entering were recognized by a camera installed on the side of the shop's shutter, which was habitually raised halfway, just long enough to allow entry and immediately lowered again.

“In the shop, the first room was used for the sale of household products, but through a curtain in a second room lay an illegal casino. The financial police surprised 13 people who were making large bets in cash around two tables with baize coverings, on which, in addition to bundles of money, there were dice, chips and a wooden box used as a cash register, with other banknotes inside, amounting to about 15 thousand euros.

“A video surveillance system had been installed installed to identify people entering and to monitor the two gaming tables using a facial detection system.”

Gambling is a Chinese passion, as we all know, and one which many of us share. There are very few legal casinos in Italy - the one in Venice comes to mind, and there is also one in Campione d’Italia, both miles from Sicily - so there is clearly a gap in the market in catering for those who like what the English tabloids call ‘a flutter’. This illegal gambling den seems to have been run by Chinese for Chinese, using the shop as cover - there are lots of these Chinese shops all over Italy, which generally sell things very cheaply. One wonders just how many of them are fronts for this sort of activity. But still, the police only netted 15,000 euro, which signifies that this place would have been small fry, run, perhaps, for the convenience of family and friends. Nevertheless the financial police used a great deal of technology and man hours to shut it down. You would think they had better things to do, but perhaps this was a question of being seen to be doing at least something, and gathering low hanging fruit.

Meanwhile the bosses of the Mafia must be tittering over their coffee as they consider this latest police triumph.