In 2023, Libera – the anti-mafia network founded in 1994 and chaired by Don Ciotti – released the first edition of its “Diario di bordo” report, examining criminal activity in Italian ports, with a section also covering European ones. In 2025, the second edition was published, incorporating data for 2024. The study – curated by Marco Antonelli, Francesca Rispoli and Peppe Ruggiero, with contributions from Andrea Giambartolomei and Monica Usai – seeks to fill an information gap on the subject by offering a detailed analysis of illegal dynamics affecting national maritime ports.
The report begins with the assertion that organised crime, through the “systematic plundering” of public resources, stifles the country's economic development and undermines the integrity of key sectors such as port infrastructure. The analysis, based on data from the Customs Agency, the Guardia di Finanza and Assoporti's press review, acknowledges the limitations of available sources but aims to map the forms and evolution of illegality in Italian ports. In 2024, 115 cases of port-related criminal activity were recorded, a rise compared to the previous year.
The number of ports affected increased to thirty, with Livorno topping the list (16 cases), followed by Bari and Genoa (10 each). Bari in particular saw the most marked increase, rising from a single case in 2023 to ten in 2024. Criminal activity was most concentrated in Liguria (18 incidents), Tuscany (17), Apulia (16) and Campania (15), with five new ports added to the list, expanding the geographic spread.
The most frequent illegal activities concerned the unlawful importation of goods, accounting for nearly 80% of incidents. This was followed by irregular exports, in-transit seizures, trafficking of counterfeit goods, drugs, smuggling, waste and, to a lesser extent, financial crimes. Cocaine remained the most seized substance, usually hidden on container ships, while China confirmed its status as the main origin of counterfeit products. Cigarette smuggling continued to be significant in Apulian ports, and there were also curious cases such as the illicit trafficking of sand, clams or coral.
Over the past three years (2022–2024), a total of 365 criminal events were recorded – averaging one every three days – with Genoa and Livorno leading the list (37 incidents each), followed by Ancona, Palermo, Naples and other major ports. Liguria, Sicily, Campania and Tuscany emerged as the most exposed regions. The report also looks back in time, tracing the involvement of organised crime in 69 Italian ports between 1994 and 2023, with 26 criminal networks identified, both Italian and foreign. Traditional mafias – the ’ndrangheta, camorra and cosa nostra – operate alongside Albanian, Chinese, Nigerian and Latin American groups, often collaborating to manage complex illicit flows such as drug and counterfeit goods trafficking. Infiltration extends to formally legal sectors as well, including logistics, shipbuilding, security services and public concessions.
Libera also turns its attention to northern European ports – Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg – where stronger enforcement has triggered a “waterbed effect”, pushing illicit trafficking toward smaller ports in Scandinavia or West Africa. In the Netherlands, the arrest of drug “extractors” has dropped thanks to tools such as the Harc team, which integrates police, customs and the judiciary. Stricter controls, anti-corruption campaigns, surveillance technologies and a “virtual fence” of drones and cameras have bolstered security. Since January 2024, the European Ports Alliance has brought together 34 ports in a €200 million joint programme.
Criminal networks, increasingly agile and transnational, continue to exploit any gap. Drug trafficking routes now extend between South and North America, with transit points in Ecuador and Mexico, the use of homemade submarines and secret tunnels. In Europe, 70% of seized drugs pass through ports, with Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands at the forefront. Heightened checks at major ports are driving traffickers to rely more on smaller ones.
One section of the report focuses on corruption, highlighting 41 suspicious episodes between 2018 and 2024 within Italy’s Port System Authorities (or former Port Authorities). In 17 of these, corrupt conduct was reported, while in 24 others criminal or disciplinary proceedings are ongoing. Most involve public contracts, concessions, authorisations, staff management and oversight. Transparency failures are widespread, with missing or unreadable reports. The alleged crimes range from corruption to embezzlement, fraud and abuse of office. According to Libera, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), with its billions earmarked for port modernisation, further increases the risk of criminal infiltration in the sector.
The report devotes space to the recent investigation in Genoa announced on 7 May 2024, involving politicians, administrators and entrepreneurs. At the heart of the case lies a network of political favours and economic advantages, centred on Giovanni Toti, then president of the Liguria Region, Paolo Emilio Signorini, head of the Port System Authority, and entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli. Libera argues that this investigation has revealed the structural weaknesses of Italian port governance, where key decisions often remain in the hands of a murky alliance between local politics and economic interests.
Download the PDF of the “Diario di bordo” 2024 report (in Italian)
