A new wave of criminal escalation is unfolding in Italy. During a meeting of the parliamentary anti-mafia commission, a worrying warning was issued: the country's traditional criminal groups are actively restructuring their arsenals, drawing on the experience of modern conflicts. Maurizio De Lucia, the Chief Prosecutor of Palermo, stated that the mafia is attempting to gain access to high-tech weaponry, specifically munitions for attack drones similar to those used on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Balkan Trail and New Threats
Investigative agencies have already identified specific channels for weapons supplies. Prosecutor De Lucia confirmed that law enforcement has seized weapons that are formally registered in the Salento region (Apulia) but were actually smuggled in through the Balkans—from the territories of former Yugoslavia. However, according to the head of the prosecutor's office, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The greatest concern is the mafia structures' drive for modernization. Criminal groups are showing a keen interest in weapon samples that have appeared on the black market since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. De Lucia did not hide the details: "We have data on the purchase of drone-launched munitions—weapons against which we are not prepared to defend ourselves."
Creating a High-Tech Arsenal
The situation goes beyond local problems in Sicily. According to the prosecutor, the trend of forming a high-tech arsenal is observed not only in the Palermo area but also in other regions of Italy. The mafia is trying to transform, moving from classic methods to tactics requiring complex machinery and remote fire control.
Ukrainian Context and the Global Market
The interest of Italian criminal structures in drone technology is directly linked to the fact that Ukraine has become a world leader in the production of combat unmanned aerial vehicles. The scale of Ukrainian production is so vast that, according to Pentagon estimates, current production volumes in the US constitute only a small fraction of Ukrainian figures. Despite Washington's attempts to accelerate the development of its own drone industry, it is the Ukrainian experience and technologies that currently set the standards on the black arms market.
